On May 22, the Central District Court of Volgograd chose a preventive measure for 19-year-old student Nikita Zhuravel, who admitted that he had burned the Koran. The investigation of the criminal case and the person under investigation was transferred to Chechnya.
A video of a young man burning the Koran in front of the Volgograd Cathedral Mosque appeared on social networks on May 19. The next day, in the Volgograd region, on suspicion of committing “public actions expressing clear disrespect for society and committed with the aim of insulting the religious feelings of believers” (Article 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), a local resident, student of the socio-pedagogical university Nikita Zhuravel, was detained. As reported by the Investigative Committee, he admitted to committing the crime and stated that he committed this action on May 4 at the direction of the Ukrainian special services for a reward of 10 thousand rubles. He also said that he handed over the video to an SBU officer, and was also allegedly involved in video recording of military facilities.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that this “egregious incident, organized by the Ukrainian special services, caused enormous indignation in Muslim society. In Grozny, about 60,000 people came to a rally to express their outrage at this blasphemous act." The mufti of the republic, Salah-Hadji Mezhiev, called Nikita Zhuravel’s act “an open declaration of war on the entire Muslim ummah.”
On behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, the Zhuravel case was transferred to the Chechen investigative department. As the department’s press service explained, “due to numerous requests from residents of Chechnya with a request to recognize them as victims.” Bastrykin emphasized that investigators should take into account information about the participation of foreign intelligence services.
The public in Russia considered this measure too harsh, but the authorities approved it. Moreover, Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko proposed after the trial to send the young man to serve his sentence in a region with a predominantly Muslim population. “This will promote respect for religion and the religious feelings of believers in our multinational and multi-religious country,” he said. Meanwhile, the article on insulting the feelings of believers does not necessarily provide for a prison term; the sentence may be limited to a fine.
Before the court hearing on the choice of a preventive measure, Zhuravel told reporters: “I apologize to all Muslims. My action was very bad. I am very ashamed in front of all the Muslims of the world.”
The court chose a preventive measure for a period of two months, and Zhuravel was transferred to Grozny. As his lawyer said, at the building of the pre-trial detention center in Grozny, the young man was met by hundreds of men with posters, they shouted curses at him.
The video of the burning of the Koran in Volgograd first appeared on the “Morning of Dagestan” telegram channel, which is associated with ex-State Duma deputy, coordinator of the “Freedom of Russia” legion Ilya Ponomarev, who lives in Ukraine. He suggested that the burning of the Koran was ordered by Russian special services for Zhuravel in order to “inflate a scandal and earn stars for the ‘disclosure’.” Some experts believe that inciting xenophobia is beneficial to the current government.