Telegram users disbelieve Deputy Mufti's conclusions on situation in Kalmyk colony

In the Kalmyk colony, where a FSIN (Russian Federal Penitentiary Service) employee was killed, the Muslims' rights are respected, and the convicts voiced only everyday complaints, the Deputy Mufti of Kalmykia has stated following his visit to the colony. However, commentators of Dagestani Telegram channels have objected stating, if there had been no torture and bans on praying, there would have been no murder.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 8, the "Gulagu.net" human rights project informed about beating of more than a hundred prisoners in the Kalmyk colony after the murder of a colony warden. Vladimir Osechkin, the manager of the above project, said that the inmates, who were accused of attacking the colony staff, had earlier been tortured.

Valery Chub, the Kalmyk Ombudsperson, and Radjab Ziyautdinov, a deputy chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM or Muftiate) of Kalmykia, visited the colony where the warden was murdered, the RIA "Kalmykia" reported on August 16.

According to the Muftiate official, the visitors "asked inmates whether there were any obstacles on the part of the colony administration in performing religious rites and prayers." "Many spoke out and said: no one forbids anything. Everyone who wishes can freely administer rituals and pray. Complaints were mostly of an everyday nature: there is no tap on the washbasin, the water is bad," The Deputy Mufti is quoted in the report.

The report about the above visit to the Kalmyk colony was reposted by a number of Dagestani Telegram channels. Social media users have doubted the conclusions of the Muftiate official. "If they had been allowed to pray and they hadn't been tortured and abused, they wouldn't have done it; it was their desperate act, the last thing left to do. One of the guys involved had only 1.5 years of his prison term. The advocate stated that there was no living place on their bodies. I don't believe this Deputy Mufti," the user Khalid has written. "For some reason, I don't believe it. Maybe there is a prayer room, but this does not exclude abuse over convicted Dagestanis," the user Mag Di has noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 17, 2022 at 05:22 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.