Mosque-goers state distrust to investigators running Makhmutov's murder case

The murder of Zamirbek Makhmutov, Deputy Imam of the village of Irgakly, Stavropol Territory, cannot be associated with intra-religious conflicts, said the members of the Nogai community. They fear that the murder will not be solved, like many other similar crimes committed in the region.

The experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have stated that the murder may lead to an aggravation of inter-confessional and interethnic relations in the region.

Most locals, fellow villagers of the Imam, associate Makhmutov's murder with his religious activities. The killing was a shock for them, said a member of the Nogai community of Irgakly. According to his version, there are those who treat Makhmutov's person with disbelief.

Makhmutov is the sixth victim among Muslim activists in the Stavropol Territory since 2012.

The murder was committed not in Irgakly, and in the village of Kara-Tyube, Neftekumsk District, but there were no intra-confessional or ethnic conflict there either, said a parishioner of the local mosque named Abdul-Alim.

On the day of Makhmutov's funeral, law enforcers tried to conduct an unsanctioned search of his house in Kara-Tyube, one of his relatives wrote in her page on the Facebook, suggesting that power agents could try to plant something illegal into the house with the aim to discredit Makhmutov.

Makhmutov was a supporter of peaceful resolution of conflicts and skilfully coped with protest moods of his parishioners, said a resident of Kara-Tyube.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.