Believers of mosque of Dagestani village Novokayakent released

All persons, who were detained today after Friday prayers in the village of Novokayakent of the Kayakent District, were released by the police after printing their fingerprints and recording their passport data. This was reported by one of the detainees.

According to one of the detainees, who preferred to remain anonymous, 15-20 persons were detained. In total, at least 100 believers were present in the mosque. As of 06:00 p.m., all detainees were released.

"After prayer and preaching, when all believers began to disperse to their homes, we saw a military vehicle on the outskirts of the village that blocked the exit. The very mosque is also located on the outskirts of the village, and it is visited by very residents of the village of Novokayakent and by residents of the nearby villages," a source said.

According to him, the military men, among whom there were people in masks and with armoured vehicles, organized a kind of access control by "selective detention of people."

"They told the villagers to go to the local ROVD (District Interior Division), and, therefore, they simply blocked the way, so that people could not leave the village. We went to the local police station. There we saw the local staff members, representatives of the Dagestani FSB, and military men. The staff members of the local police have printed our fingerprints and recorded our personal data, apparently, for some files," the participant of the event said.

According to him, the detainees were asked: "Why did you come to that mosque and not to another? What is your business in life?"

The source has clarified that only representatives of the Salafi trend of Islam were detained at the mosque.

"After questioning, nobody was detained. Last person was released at 05:00 p.m. I treat that as pressure on Muslims, since we did not do anything illegal, we just came to the mosque to pray," he has emphasized.

Moreover, the source stated that it was not the first police raid on believers, visiting the mosque: last time, that happened about six months ago. "Meanwhile, every time at conduction of such inspections, they refer to some information that they saw bearded men with weapons," he said.

One more believer, visiting the mosque, who introduced himself as Magomed, said in that way, law enforcement agents "record data of representatives of Salafism."

"This is the first step, and it could be followed by a kidnapping. Is this not a pressure on Muslims? If a person has committed something illegal, arrest and judge that person. Meanwhile, to detain 20 persons at once is an action of intimidation. This time, I was not detained; however, my acquaintances were detained, and all of them were released already," the man said.

The believer said that the military squad, which, according to him, consisted only of men detached for service, included two sniper specialists and people in masks.

"The military men behaved very rude. However, people understand that if they provide them with a possibility to provoke a conflict, something bad may occur, and, therefore, they behaved with restraint," the believer has concluded.

On his page on "Facebook", Kamil Abu-Sultan, Imam of the mosque, wrote that he was driving his car when the military men blocked the road.

"I left my car and entered another car, since I understood that an Ural vehicle blocked the road intentionally. Once I moved, they immediately surrounded me and said: 'We have an order, and we need you,' and pointed firearms at me," he wrote. According to the Imam, he was told that they "want to talk" to him "and delivered all believers at the same time."

According to Kamil Abu-Sultan, after all persons arrived at the ROVD, there, "they printed fingerprints of believers, made their pictures, and then, the believers were questioned by FSB officers."

Officials from the unit on duty of the ROVD of the Kayakent District told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that at the village, they conducted checking of the residents' passports.