Moscow mosque imam charged with public justification of terrorism - Russian Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. July 12 (Interfax) - Moscow mosque imam Makhmud Velitov has been charged with public justification of terrorism, Yulia Ivanova, the Russian Investigative Committee's Central Moscow Department spokesperson, said.
"The criminal case against Velitov is currently being investigated. He is charged with publicly justifying terrorism under Part 1, Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code," she told Interfax on Tuesday.
According to the investigation, on September 23, 2013, Velitov, being the Council chairman and the head of a religious organization, during the prayer in the mosque on Khatchaturyan Street "publically made a speech justifying the activity of one of the participants in the terrorist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami [banned in Russia]."
"According to the conclusion of the psychological linguistic forensic examination, the aforementioned speech includes totality of psychological and linguistic characteristics of justification of terrorist activities," she said.
She noted that the investigation made a motion to the court requesting the selection of a restrictive measure against Velitov in the form of house arrest.
In turn, the press service of Moscow's Police Central Department confirmed to Interfax the fact of the arrest of an imam of one of Moscow mosques by the officials of the counter-extremism center.
"Searches were conducted at the imam's domicile address and the place of work, following which the literature from the list of banned extremist materials was seized," the press service official said.
As Velitov's lawyer Dagir Khasavov told Interfax earlier, the imam was detained on Monday; searches were conducted at his apartment and the mosque.
Velitov testified and partially admitted his guilt, he said. Velitov allegedly justified the activities of some Islamic figure known as Gappayev, he said.