Muftiat of Chechnya prohibited to bury gunmen according to Muslim customs

Religious Board of Moslems (RBM) of Chechnya prohibited burial of persons killed in special operations in the territory of cemeteries and in accordance with Muslim traditions and local customs. Experts point out that this prohibition of RBM is only a statement of the practice existing in the republic.

“Criminals who are guilty of the Muslims’ death and severe crimes must not be buried in a common cemetery, side by side with normal people. Religious ceremonies should not be held for them, either, because they oppose the Omnipotent and commit their murderous crimes using religion as a cover. Bodies of terrorists and murderers should be buried only outside the cemeteries. The mullahs and cadies of the districts and settlements of the republic are strictly forbidden to carry out obsequial rites for such persons”, a representative of RBM of Chechnya said.

Yesterday, November, 5, Mufti of Chechnya Sultan Mirzaev confirmed enactment of the ban of burying gunmen in Muslim cemeteries of the republic in his interview to “Izvestia” newspaper.

“These people are not just blood-stained up to their elbows, they are completely drowned in blood of women, old folks and children. They do not deserve ordinary burial”, the mufti emphasized.

Mirzaev’s message is just a statement of reality existing in Chechnya, the experts emphasize. Bodies of lost or killed gunmen in Chechnya are not given to their relatives as it is and their relatives are prohibited funeral repasts and other religious rites.

“I do not know how these actions can be interpreted by the religion but I think they are quite inadmissible not only from the point of view or religion but even ordinary human morality. No religion allows humiliation of a human dead body, even if it is an enemy”, a representative of one of the local non-governmental organizations says.

Commenting of the Mufti’s statement a representative of a human rights center of Chechnya pointed out that he had on hand facts when the bodies of killed gunmen are not given to their relatives.

“The terrorists’ dead bodies are buried in secret places instead of giving them to their relatives in accordance with the law of counteraction to terrorism. There are no such legal acts at the republican level”, an officer of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Chechnya emphasized.