Version of Sunzha Imam's ties with underground called into question

No radical views have been found in the Imam of the Sunzha mosque, Abdulrashid Gardanov, while law enforcers are simulating a fight against the underground in order to improve their performance, analysts assert.

According to the Telegram channel entitled "Wanted Ingushetia", law enforcers have opened a criminal case for aiding terrorism against Imam Abdulrashid Gardanov. Investigators believe that he had given a Kalashnikov submachine gun, three grenades and a hand grenade launcher to the members of Amirkhan Gurazhev's gang. Also, according to investigators, Gardanov transferred 900,000 roubles to finance terrorist activities. Gardanov left Russia and is presumably hiding in Turkey; he has been put on the wanted list.

Abdulrashid Gardanov was chosen as Imam a couple of years ago and was notable for his tough Salafi ideology, said a believer who visited the mosque in Sunzha. He has added that he had not heard any calls for illegal activity in Gardanov's sermons.

Although there are followers of various Islamic trends in Ingushetia, this has never been a destabilization factor in the society, an analyst from Ingushetia has stated, noting that it was "the creation of the legal basis for their coexistence in the region that has stabilized the earlier existing hostility due to different approaches and interpretations of the provisions of Islam."

Announcing fundraising for various purposes is a normal practice for theologians in Ingushetia, the analyst has added, expressing distrust of the Ingush law enforcers' version about the misuse of funds collected by Gardanov.

The name of Amirkhan Gurazhev had never been heard before, and reports of the existence of a certain unit began to be spread by law enforcement bodies unexpectedly for residents of Ingushetia, the analyst has stated, adding that Gardanov was known as an Imam, but not as a militant or a religiously motivated person.

The analyst linked the possible repressive measures against Imams from Salafi mosques to the fact that these mosques could have been visited by the people who later joined militants.

He has recalled that the Gurazhev family had faced the Russian repressive machine, which could have played a significant role in Amirkhan Gurazhev's radicalization.

"His brother was kidnapped by special services," the analyst has noted.

Ingushetia is watching an increase in the underground activeness, which is largely facilitated by the Russian policy in Northern Caucasus, Magomed Toriev*, a journalist, believes.

Authorities' attacks on the Islam motivate young people to self-organize the underground activity, Mr Toriev* has concluded.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.