Chechnya: cadet screened out for religious convictions

In Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a cadet was dismissed from the local branch of the Krasnodar University of Interior (of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), whom the University's bosses found to be an advocate of Wahhabism. The incident grew into a scandal, which draw even the attention of the Republic's Prosecutor's Office.

Zelimkhan Muskhadzhiev, who entered last summer the Chechen Branch of the Krasnodar University of Interior, was initially ranked among the best students of the University. However, later he was not admitted to lectures and, finally, dismissed, allegedly, "for breaching the contractual provisions."

As an evidence of his violations, the young man's mother was presented some video record, made with the help of a mobile phone, where her son, looking heavy with sleep, was reciting certain abstracts of some Moslem sermon.

"The text of a once heard sermon, murmured by my son, was regarded by the University bosses as a manifestation of religious extremism, and without any explanation signed a dismissal order," Yakha Alieva, mother of the former student, has complained. The woman is convinced that her son was treated unfairly and insists that the dismissal order should be cancelled, the "Kommersant" newspaper writes.

The Ombudsman of Chechnya Nurdi Nukhaziev has accused the University leaders of religious discrimination. The Prosecutor's Office of the Republic has also found the dismissal order to be illegal and made a protest against it.