Parishioners who suffered in Dagestan mosque have no claims to militia

Tonight the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent had a meeting in the "Yuzhnaya" mosque with the parishioners - victims of the incident on March 30, 2007.

In the opinion of Ramil Kurbanov, one of the believers, the cause of the conflict could be a verbal dispute between the Imam and one of the parishioners. None of the victims would go to court for two reasons. Firstly, they do not want their relatives to learn about the incident. Secondly, the victims think that any address to local court on such an issue is doomed to a failure, since "it is not known what structures the attackers belonged to, and as the situation develops, the authorities and militia are not willing to search them." Besides, local residents are convinced that the law-enforcement and judicial structures "are tied by frank pledge."

One of young parishioners told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that "the militiamen treated them quite loyally" and explained: "When they handcuffed me, put a plastic bag over my head and laid me down on the floor, one of the OMON (Special Militia) fighters then slightly expanded the opening of the bag to make my breath easier."

Ms. Umupazil Omarova, Ombudsman for Dagestan, gave her explanation to the behaviour of her fellow citizens: "They, unfortunately, are not used to solve their problems within the law."