Court rules dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus" extremist

The Moscow City Court, following a lawsuit by the prosecutor's office, recognized the dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus" as extremist material. The reason for this was an examination that concluded that the dictionary disseminates information about terrorists. According to sources, we are talking about Shamil Basayev, Movladi Udugov and Khattab.

As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, the encyclopedic dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus", the presentation of which took place in 2023 in Moscow, was prepared for more than 10 years and published in a print run of 500 copies. When preparing the publication, the emphasis was placed on presenting the most objective information, avoiding the influence of recent history events and balancing, including opposing points of view against the backdrop of linguistic diversity and poor study of the history of Islam in a number of regions of the North Caucasus, the authors and compilers of the publication said.

The Moscow City Court granted the prosecutor's claim and recognized the dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus" edited by the first deputy chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Russian Federation Damir Mukhetdinov as extremist material, Kommersant reported.

As follows from the case file on the court's website, the defendant was the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia. The decision was made on August 11, its text was not published in the case file.

The text of the court's decision was published on his Telegram channel by the chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee Kirill Kabanov. "The court's decision is subject to immediate execution," it says. At the same time, it is indicated that it can be appealed within a month.

On July 15, Kabanov wrote that the claims were caused by "too free use" of information about recognized terrorists Shamil Basayev, Movladi Udugov, and Khattab, whom he included in the publication as significant Muslim figures.

The Medina Publishing House considered the examination, on the basis of which a lawsuit was filed to include the dictionary in the register of extremist materials, to be questionable.

"The "incriminating" article by Roman Silantyev makes a transparent hint that the dictionary disseminates information about terrorists. Alas, the exposure is not worth a damn. Persons and associations involved in terrorist activity are mentioned in the dictionary "Islam in the North Caucasus" in the articles "Wahhabis of the North Caucasus" and "History of Islam in Chechnya" precisely in the context of their radicalism," says the publication of the publishing house, which was posted on the Telegram channel of the Russian Muslim Spiritual Directorate on July 15.

The publishing house noted that the authors of each of the dictionaries are "leading domestic experts in their field." "The authors of the articles in the aforementioned dictionary are: V. O. Bobrovnikov, Head of the Center for the Study of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Ural-Volga Region at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; A. A. Yarlykapov, Senior Researcher at the Center for Caucasus Problems and Regional Security at MGIMO University; and M. Yu. Roshchin, Senior Researcher at the Center for the Study of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Ural-Volga Region at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1952-2021). These are specialists with an impeccable scientific reputation," the article notes.

Roman Silantyev is considered the author of the concept of destructology, which he proposed in 2018. Previously, he authored an expert examination in the case of director Evgenia Berkovich and screenwriter Svetlana Petriychuk, who were sentenced in the summer of 2024 to six years for justifying terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) in the play "Finist the Clear Falcon." Then, in response to a request from the defense, the Ministry of Justice reported that “destructive examination” cannot be used as evidence in court. Moreover, in July of this year, based on Silantyev’s examination, the “International Satanism Movement” was recognized as extremist and banned, Kommersant wrote on August 11.

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