23:39, 25 December 2006

Court session on the case of Pyatigorsk mosque imam postponed till December 26

Today, the City Court of Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Territory) was to continue hearings of the case of Anton (Abdullah) Stepanenko, imam of the city mosque. However, as Astemir Podluzhny, press secretary of the Court, has told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot," because of non-appearance of the advocates of one of the parties, the session was removed to Tuesday, December 26.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported earlier that the victims were interrogated at the previous sessions. In the words of Svetlana Avdjaeva, defendant's lawyer, all the three victims evidenced at the court that they had perjured the accused Stepanenko and Grudin.

Imam Anton (Abdullah) Stepanenko is charged on 3 Articles of the Criminal Code: kindling of religious enmity, illegal deprivation of freedom and extortion (Articles 282, 127 and 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the General Prosecutor's Office, Mr. Stepanenko, being the imam of the mosque of the city of Pyatigorsk, professed radical Islam and, allegedly, used the respective literature to this end.