05 June 2007, 15:20
Moslem asks President of Kabardino-Balkaria for protection against oppression
It has become known to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Ruslan Karabashev, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, sent a letter to President of Kabardino-Balkaria asking to defend him against ungrounded prosecution by power agencies:
"... They've 'registered' me, and they regularly come to my home or take me away to the militia, or the district militiaman calls me up and controls me by the telephone. Late in 2006, a capture group seized me and brought to the Organized Crime Combating Unit (UBOP) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), where they took my fingerprints, filmed me on video, and took an explanation of the following contents: for how many years I pray, who taught me to do namaz, what mosque I go to, etc. On the same day my house was searched. They found nothing illegal.
... I am a loyal citizen, never trialled before. After each visit of the militia, my parents experience stress, their illnesses have aggravated. When my wife and mother asked the district militiaman to help to remove me from 'registration,' he answered: "Let him stop doing namaz." The only cause of my prosecution is that I'm a believer."
Ruslan Karabashev sent copies of his letter to the Republic's Human Rights Centre of Kabardino-Balkaria and the International Human Rights Society "Memorial."
Author: Luiza Orazayeva, CK correspondent
