SAKHALIN PROVINCIAL COURT DOES NOT FIND QUOTATIONS FROM QURAN EXTREMIST
The Sakhalin provincial court granted the appeal of the head of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, and also a circle of interested persons and organizations, quashing on Thursday the decision of the South Sakhalinsk city court finding the book Prayer to God: Its Significance and Place in Islam to be 'extremist material,'" a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"To set aside the decision of the South Sakhalinsk city court of 12 August 2015. To refuse satisfaction of the requests of the prosecutor of the city of South Sakhalinsk to find the book Prayer to God: Its Significance and Place in Islam extremist," stated the appellate determination of the presiding judge, Nikolai Krylov.
On 12 August 2015, Judge Natalia Perchenko of the South Sakhalinsk city court ruled the book Prayer to God, which was published in a press run of 10,000 copies on an order from the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Asiatic Part of Russia, to be "extremist material," agreeing with the opinion of Prosecutor Tatiana Bilobrovets that the material contains indicators of extremism as well as calls for terrorist activity and kidnapping. In particular, as reported earlier, the grounds were several suras of the Quran, including the first sura, "Al-Fatiha," which Muslims called the "mother of scripture."
"Does the prosecutor's office really have nothing else to do than to prohibit sacred scriptures? To ban the sura 'Al-Fatiha' for Muslims is the same as prohibiting an Orthodox believer from saying the 'Our Father.' A Muslim daily recites the sura 'Al-Fatiha' at least 17 times; can one really consider him extremist for that?" the representative of Ramzan Kadyrov, Said-Magomed Chapanov, asked the appellate court in his speech.
Chapanov added that during the consideration of the case in the court of the first instance numerous violations were committed, in particular, there was no proper notification of interested persons about the conduct of the hearings, specifically the Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of the Asiatic Part of Russia, which ordered the book. Also the documents of the conduct of the examination of the text lack dates of their signing, which violates the requirements of Russian law and, accordingly, cannot be considered to be evidence. In addition, the evaluation of the interpretation of quotes from the Quran was given by an expert who does not have education in the area of religious studies.
During the investigation of the case at the second instance, South Sakhalinsk Prosecutor Irina Kislenko petitioned for conducting a new expert analysis, which was denied.
"I believe in the justice of the Russian federation," Chapanov said, commenting on the appellate presentation for completing the investigation.
The court ordered that the entire press run of the brochures be returned to the owners. The parties may appeal the decision within six months. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 November 2015)
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