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Muslim cleric attacked in Russia’s Karachay-Cherkessia

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KARACHAY-CHERKESSIA, 18 December, Caucasus Times: A well-known religious figure has been attacked in Karachay-Cherkessia. This time round the victim was the head of the Karachay-Cherkess Imam Abu-Khanif Institute and deputy chairman of the spiritual board of Muslims of Karachay-Cherkessia and Stavropol Territory, Ismail-khadzhi Bostanov.

Three unidentified masked people broke into Bostanov’s house in Cherkessk in the early hours on Saturday [16 December], the republic’s law-enforcement agencies told the Caucasus Times. The assailants wounded and beat the cleric.

“Ismail-khadzhi received a penetrating bullet wound and stab wounds. Bostanov’s two underage children and wife were in the house at the time of the attack. His wife was also beaten up. The Cherkessk prosecutor’s office has instituted criminal proceedings into the attack under Article 162 of the Russian Criminal Code,” a source in the Karachay-Cherkess law-enforcement agencies said.
It was the fifth attack on religious leaders of Karachay-Cherkessia this year. An unidentified person wearing a mask fatally wounded imam Abdul-Kerim Bayramukov during the evening prayers in the Karachayevsk mosque in August. A week later another religious figure, 86-year-old Ismail Batchayev who had retired by the time, was brutally killed in his own
house.

The house of the chairman of the coordination centre of Muslims of the North Caucausus and head of the spiritual board of Muslims of Karachay-Cherkessia and Stavropol Territory, Ismail-khadzhi Berdiyev, came under fire from assault rifles last March. Unidentified people threw a grenade into the yard of Berdiyev’s house in early December. No-one was hurt in either of
the attacks.

Madina Botasheva, Cherkessk, Caucasus Times

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The “Free Eurasia” project is an independent media platform based in Prague, with an ambitious mission to provide the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus with high-quality, objective and timely information in their national languages. We unite the expertise of editors and journalists working in Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Circassian, Avar and Russian to break the monopoly of state-run Russian-language media and amplify the voices of local communities. Direction Our work focuses on comprehensive coverage of social, political, economic and cultural developments in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the issues facing diasporas in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries. We produce news, analytical articles, video reports, podcasts, interviews and journalistic investigations. Special attention is paid to topics rarely addressed by state media: human rights violations, corruption, ethnic and cultural identity, migration and international relations. We strive to engage audiences of all ages, with a particular emphasis on young people and residents of remote regions, offering them digital content in their native languages. Goal Our main goal is to promote the development and sustainability of independent media in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We aim to strengthen the region’s informational sovereignty by expanding access to truthful sources and raising media literacy. At the same time, we support the development of national languages as key elements of identity and cultural heritage, encouraging public discussion and engagement. The project seeks to become a catalyst for building a strong civil society and defending democratic values, helping to train new professional journalists and fostering international cooperation.

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