SDM of Abkhazia concerned of the attitude of authorities to Islam

The Spiritual Department of Moslems (SDM) of Abkhazia is concerned of the situation around the Muslim community of the Republic and development of Islam as a whole, Timur Dzyba, head of the SDM's Administration, has stated today at a press conference in Sukhum.

According to his story, there is non-justified negative information about the development of Islam in Abkhazia.

"We don't preach extremist Islam. However, blood was already shed. First victims are patriot Daur Mutsba, who stood from his 14 in defence of his homeland, and his wife. The incident was treated as a murder of the person in whose house a plenty of weapons was found".

Daur Mutsba (born in 1978) and his wife (born in 1987) were shot dead on July 2, 2007, in the centre of Sukhum.

Soon after that, Imam Khamzat (Rokki) Gitsba was killed on August 17.

"Some months before the incident we had officially addressed the top managers of power agencies and told them that the people who came to pray to the mosque were chased, and it was disturbing the community. We got no answer from law-enforcement structures, and the implication was Khamzat Gitsba's murder," Mr Dzyba has noted.