Abrekov: Cherkessk policemen return confiscated translations of Koran to Islamic stores

In the city of Cherkessk, employees of the Centre to Combat Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) have returned the copies of the Koran, translated by Elmir Kuliev, confiscated on October 2, back to Islamic stores, said Anzor Abrekov, the owner of the shop "An-Nur".

On September 17, the Oktiabrsky District Court of Novorossiysk satisfied the lawsuit of the Transport Prosecutor's Office and found the book by the well-known Azerbaijan religious philosopher Elmir Kuliev "Conceptual Translation of Holy Koran into Russian" to be an extremist material. On September 23, an appeal complaint was filed against the decision of the District Court.

On October 9, the Cherkessk City Court was to consider the case about the legality of confiscation of the Koran books from sale. Eventually, the session was not held, as reported by Ruslan Kambiev, an inspector on human rights of the Civil Committee for Defence of Citizens' Rights and Freedoms in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD). Official apologies were given to the owner of the store; and the books were returned.

"I think that the public resonance has affected the outcome of the case: articles were published; and an intense discussion of the incident took place in social networks," said Kambiev.

He explained that the above translation of the Koran by Kuliev and the book "Gardens of the Righteous", published in Astrakhan, are not on the list of extremist materials.