Moscow (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has offered his condolences to the friends and family of Anas Pshikhachev, mufti of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, who was murdered on Wednesday.
Mufti killers will be punished - Medvedev
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has offered his condolences to the friends and family of Anas Pshikhachev, mufti of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, who was murdered on Wednesday.
"He was an outstanding religious figure of unquestionable authority who openly opposed extremism," spokeswoman Natalya Timakova quoted the president as saying.
"It is clear that this heinous murder was committed because of his active stance," Medvedev was quoted as saying.
The president has ordered that all possible assistance be provided to the victim's family, Timakova said.
"We will continue to support Muslims in Kabardino-Balkaria, and I am certain that the murderers will be punished," Medvedev was quoted as saying.
Pshikhachev was killed in the republic's main city of Nalchik on Wednesday evening. Two unidentified men challenged him to come out of his home at about 7:30 p.m. They then fired at least four shots from 9 mm pistols at him. Pshikhachev, aged 47, died from his wounds.
A criminal case based on charges of premeditated murder and illegal arms possession has been launched.
A senior Muslim leader in the North Caucasus, Ismail Berdiyev, told Interfax-Religion that Pshikhachev had receive death threats in the past.
"Just recently at a meeting with the presidential envoy [to the North Caucasus Alexander Khloponin] he said: "They come, look me in the face brazenly and say: "We have decided to kill you. What do you think of that?"
Berdiyev said it was difficult to say who could be behind the murder but noted that the mufti had actively resisted extremism.
"Whatever it may be, there is no religion here. It's pure gangsterism," Berdiyev added.
Russia's Muslim authority condemns mufti's murder
Central Spiritual Muslim Board condemned Wednesday's assassination of Anas Pshikhachev, mufti of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic in the Russian North Caucasus and slammed "extremism and terrorism."
"We urge all our faithful brothers and sisters, all the traditional religious communities of Russia, all our fellow-citizens and people of goodwill to resolutely rebuff extremism and terrorism regardless of what clothes they wear," the administration said in a statement.
The administration branded Pshikhachev's murderers as "irreconcilable, bitter enemies not only of the Muslims but also of our entire multiethnic and multireligious society [who] have once again tried to sow discord between our peoples and set members of different religious communities against each other." Pshikhachev, who was chairman of Kabardino-Balkaria's Muslim Spiritual Administration, was killed in the republic's capital, Nalchik.
Killing of Kabardino-Balkaria religious leader a lethal blow - Patriarch Kirill
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia hopes that the memory of killed Kabardino-Balkaria spiritual Muslim leader Anas Pshikhachev will help Russians 'follow the path of peace.'
"Terrorists have stricken another lethal blow; one of the most authoritative Muslim leaders of the North Caucasus is killed," the Patriarch said, as quoted by his press service.
"Mufti Anas Pshikhachev was a true patriot of Russia and a loyal friend of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was adamantly resisting extremism and terrorism, strengthening inter-religious and inter-ethnic peace and reviving traditional Islam," he said.
"Best people die in the war on terrorism, but their deaths must not be wasted. Let their memory guide us through the path of peace and mutual understanding, the path of good deeds for the benefit of our fatherland," he said.
Pshikhachev was killed in the republic's main city of Nalchik on Wednesday evening.
"Two unidentified men challenged him to come out of his home at about 7:30 p.m.," a spokesman for the Kabardino-Balkaria branch of the Investigative Committee told Interfax.
They then fired at least four shots from 9mm pistols at him. Pshikhachev, aged 47, died from his wounds, the spokesman said.
A criminal case based on charges of premeditated murder and illegal arms possession has been launched.
A senior Muslim leader in the North Caucasus, Ismail Berdiyev, told Interfax that Pshikhachev had receive death threats in the past.
"Just recently at a meeting with the presidential envoy [to the North Caucasus Alexander Khloponin] he said: "They come, look me in the face brazenly and say: "We have decided to kill you. What do you think of that?"
Berdiyev said it was difficult to say who could be behind the murder but noted that the mufti had actively resisted extremism.
"Whatever it may be, there is no religion here. It's pure gangsterism," Berdiyev added.
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