19-year-old Nikita Zhuravel, who is accused of burning the Koran, was taken to Chechnya, where the trial of his case had previously been moved. A correspondent of RIA Novosti reports that he was met by "outraged residents of the region" near the pre-trial detention center in Grozny with posters "Hands off the Koran."
According to the investigation, Zhuravel committed a public burning of the Koran on May 19 near the Cathedral Mosque in Volgograd. A video with the burning of the Koran appeared in the Telegram channel from the network of the ex-deputy Ilya Ponomarev "Morning Dagestan".
According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, during interrogation Zhuravel testified that he burned the Koran allegedly at the direction of the Ukrainian special services for a reward of 10,000 rubles. The head of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin instructed to transfer the case to Chechnya.
On May 23, a rally was held in Chechnya against the action to burn the Koran. Kavkaz Realii wrote that students and employees of state-financed organizations were forced to come to the rally. The participants held portraits of Ramzan Kadyrov and posters with the inscriptions "Do not touch the Holy Scriptures!", "My religion is my life," and so on.
Human rights activists and a lawyer interviewed by The Insider believe that the decision to transfer the case to Chechnya was made to intimidate people and give Ramzan Kadyrov the right to prosecute anyone who infringes on Islam in Russia. According to human rights activist Abubakar Yangulbaev, in this case, Kadyrov should have started with Vladimir Putin, who gave orders to bomb houses and mosques in Chechnya and burn Korans during the Second Chechen War.