Equipment and literature confiscated from office of "Enlightenment" Foundation in Moscow

In Moscow, a search is over in the office of the "Enlightenment" Educational Foundation, during which power agents confiscated equipment and banned literature, eyewitnesses report. As of 11:30 p.m., most of the Muslims detained by law enforcers were released from the police station.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 15, in Moscow, at the office of the "Enlightenment" Foundation, policemen detained at least one hundred Muslims, mostly natives of Northern Caucasus. According to Valentina Chupik, the head of migration programmes of the international non-profit organization "TONG JAHONI", staff members of the department to combat extremism were looking for explosives in the office of the "Enlightenment" Foundation.

Bakhrom Khamroev, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", was told at the OVD (Interior Division) that policemen were looking for three persons involved in foreign illegal armed formations (IAFs) that had acted in Syria. According to the rights defender, the detentions were conducted "in a very rude manner"; while there were women among the detainees.

Khamroev has added that at police stations detainees were questioned by FSB agents. "They asked whether people had read the book 'A Muslim's Fortress' (put on the federal list of extremist materials, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"), whether they know the Arabic language, whether they read the Koran, and whether they are ready to give their lives for the sake of Allah," said the rights defender.