In Khasavyurt, mosque-goers associate murder of Imam with pressure on Salafi community in Makhachkala (+video)

The chiefs of the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) have taken the control over the course of the investigation into the criminal case on the murder of Imam of a Salafi mosque in Khasavyurt. The murder of the Imam occurred on the background of the conflict over the Salafi mosque in Kotrov Street in Makhachkala and the statements of some members of the community on their willingness to help their co-religionists in the capital of the republic, mosque-goers in Khasavyurt note.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 1, unidentified persons shot and killed Suleiman Kokreksky (in passport, Suleiman Suleimanov), Imam of the mosque at the city hospital of Khasavyurt, who was one of the followers of the Salafi concept of Islam.

The murder is unlikely associated with any property or land problem. This opinion was expressed by Rasul, a believer of the mosque at the city hospital in Khasavyurt. He has added that "many people draw parallels between the situation with attempts to 'seize' the Salafi mosque in Makhachkala and the murder of the Imam in Khasavyurt."

In recent months, in Dagestan, imams of at least five mosques were replaced after the conflicts. In two cases, the changes were caused by murders of religious figures. In at least three other cases, imams were displaced as a result of the conflicts between followers of different concepts of Islam or mosques were closed after searches.

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