- Title: RUSSIA/FILE-: Underground bunker of Russian Islamist sect uncovered near Kazan
- Date: 9th August 2012
- Summary: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL KAZAN, TATARSTAN, RUSSIA (RECENT) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF ALLEGED CULT COMPOUND KAZAN, TATARSTAN, RUSSIA (AUGUST 8, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALLEGED CULT MEMBER GUMAR GANIEV, SAYING: "We fight with the Koran. We think the Koran...when they assault us they curse us - this is our weapon." KAZAN, TATARSTAN, RUSSIA (AUGUST 8, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) JOURNALIST TALKING TO ANONYMOUS FORMER CULT MEMBER JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ANONYMOUS FORMER CULT MEMBER, SAYING: "The living conditions were, I would say, spartan. Everyone made do as he was able. We also put the beds together by hand, other things were found and brought - things, like a metal bed. The children slept in these conditions. There weren't (enough) clothes, some people donated clothes, some people took clothes from garbage bins and brought them." JOURNALIST TALKING TO ANONYMOUS FORMER CULT MEMBER KAZAN, TATARSTAN, RUSSIA (RECENT) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KAZAN PROSECUTOR ILDUS NAFIKOV, SAYING: "Up until then all government authorities operated in the following way: the territory was closed off, they (the authorities) knocked, they were not let in, there was no criminal case, and we had no court sanction to enter this territory. That's it. Everything was constrained by this. (So it was just) conversations, trying to persuade, but no real action (was taken)." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KAZAN PROSECUTOR ILDUS NAFIKOV, SAYING: "The prosecutor has the right to file a complaint to the court to prohibit an organization's activities. Plus, in parallel, we will make a request, we will turn to the court to get permission to demolish all these illegal constructions like catacombs and so on."
- Embargoed: 24th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Crime,Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVA21AQIAJ19UEI3PBDPRAWP8PU4
- Story Text: Dozens of Russian Islamist sect adherents found after nearly a decade in underground bunker in Russian city Kazan.
Seventy members of an Islamist sect who have been living in an underground bunker without heat or sunlight for nearly a decade have been discovered living on the outskirts of the city of Kazan in Russia, according to local media reports.
The sect members included 20 children, the youngest of whom had just turned 18 months. Many of them were born underground and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered their dwelling on August 1 and sent them for health checks.
A 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant.
Alleged cult member Gumar Ganiev said that the group did not have any weapons.
"We fight with the Koran. We think the Koran...when they assault us they curse us - this is our weapon," Ganiev said in video material obtained by Reuters.
A former member of the cult, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the group members lived in primitive conditions.
"The living conditions were, I would say, spartan. Everyone made do as he was able. We also put the beds together by hand, other things were found and brought - things, like a metal bed. The children slept in these conditions. There weren't (enough) clothes, some people donated clothes, some people took clothes from garbage bins and brought them," the man said.
The group - known as the "Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named after its 83-year-old organiser Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state, according to a report by state TV channel Vesti.
Satarov was described as a former deputy to a Sunni Islamic cleric in the 1970s. His followers were encouraged to read his manuscripts and most were banned from leaving their eight-storey underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a building, Vesti said.
The cult has, according to local media reports, been in existence for over a decade, but local authorities have only recently taken action to disrupt the group's activities.
"Up until then all government authorities operated in the following way: the territory was closed off, they (the authorities) knocked, they were not let in, there was no criminal case, and we had no court sanction to enter this territory. That's it. Everything was constrained by this. (So it was just) conversations, trying to persuade, but no real action (was taken)," Kazan prosecutor Ildus Nafikov said, adding,
"The prosecutor has the right to file a complaint to the court to prohibit an organization's activities. Plus, in parallel, we will make a request, we will turn to the court to get permission to demolish all these illegal constructions like catacombs and so on."
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the sect and have said it will be disbanded if it continues its illegal activities, such as stopping its members from seeking medical assistance or education.
A woman who said her relatives had been involved in the cult described the cult's beliefs.
"They (Fayzrahman cult members) says that people should live and not work. They should live like birds and prepare themselves for the end of the world," the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Fayzrahman Saratov, the group's organiser, also attempted to explain his beliefs.
"I left my daughter, I left all my relatives. I told them - if you want to live as a follower of Allah, you should come here. I'll give you a place. We will feed you, give you clothes. Allah will provide clothing and if you aren't going to follow Allah, go away from here," Saratov said.
Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991, prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the vacuum that opened up.
No arrests have been made although police are likely to look into suspicions that some of the children were being abused. A court will decide whether the children will be allowed to stay with their parents.
Kazan is located 800 km (497 miles) east of Moscow in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim internal Russian republic. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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