17:38, 29 June 2024Source: Meduza

The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, speaking at the International Youth Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, called for an “urgent” ban on wearing niqabs in Russia. A recording of the speech by the head of the Investigative Committee  was published by RBC.

As the publication clarifies, the issue of banning niqabs was raised by one of the listeners of the session at which Bastrykin spoke. According to a forum visitor, the authorities of Central Asian countries, in particular Uzbekistan, prohibit the wearing of religious clothing that covers the face, and those “who cannot wear the niqab there move here and wear it in Russia.”

The listener expressed the opinion that there should also be such a ban in Russia, since “there could be some kind of terrorist sleeper cell behind the niqab,” and asked Bastrykin’s opinion on this matter.

The head of the Investigative Committee responded by advising the person who asked the question to contact the State Duma, which he “ called incorrectly the day before yesterday .” “It is the task of the State Duma to pass a law prohibiting what you are talking about. There [in the countries of Central Asia] it is prohibited, but here it is allowed. Why? I don’t know, I’m not a legislator. But I agree with you, we urgently need to ban all this,” he said.

The head of the Investigative Committee then touched on the topic of terrorist attacks that have occurred in the Russian Federation recently. “What is happening today?  Who committed the latest terrorist attack  in Dagestan ? Islamists, terrorists. Who committed the attack in the Rostov prison ? Terrorists, Islamists. They were even able to bring their banner of Islamic terror to our territory, so the State Duma urgently needs to respond to these phenomena. If we are bringing people here – I think we shouldn’t [do this] – we must regulate their behavior by adopting new laws,” Bastrykin said.

The statement of the head of the Investigative Committee  was criticized by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. “Bastrykin recalled the latest terrorist attacks in Rostov and Dagestan, and called their perpetrators “Islamist terrorists.” I would like to tell Alexander Ivanovich that in such statements it is necessary to be extremely careful. I have said many times and emphasize once again that Muslims have not committed and are not committing terrorist acts. At the same time, I really hope that Bastrykin will no longer compare Islam with terror,” Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.

The head of Chechnya also called “not to confuse religions with the extravagant ideas of rabid fanatics and shaitans, who can call themselves whatever they want, but in no way have anything to do with the sacred scriptures, be it the Bible, the Koran or the Torah.” In conclusion, Kadyrov emphasized that if officials of Bastrykin’s level “allow themselves to make such statements, this could end extremely badly for the socio-political situation in the country.”

This is not the first statement by Bastrykin in recent days that has attracted the attention of the public and the media. Thus, during his speech at the forum on June 27, the head of the Investigative Committee  called the State Duma “the State Fool” , accusing the lower house of parliament of unwillingness to adopt “good laws” on migration. The Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin responded to the phrase of the head of the Investigative Committee . He said: “The deputies are elected by citizens of the Russian Federation, he insulted the people.” Soon after, the official representative of the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko made a statement in which she emphasized that Bastrykin “in no way wanted to insult the people’s representatives, but only sought to draw the attention of the State Duma to the need for legislative changes in the sphere of migration.”

The next day, Bastrykin, again speaking at the forum, proposed returning the death penalty to Russia . Explaining his proposal, the head of the Investigative Committee cited the example of the terrorist attack at  Crocus City Hall , in which 145 people were killed. “The 15 defendants [in the terrorist attack case] will receive a maximum of life imprisonment. What does it mean? Three meals a day, two-hour walks. I can’t afford to walk for two hours, I don’t have time for that. Sometimes I don’t have time to have lunch,” said Bastrykin.

At the same time, he stated that the maintenance of one convict costs the budget  30 thousand a year. “Multiplied by everyone who is in prison for life, this is a colossal budget,” Bastrykin emphasized. He proposed lifting the moratorium on the death penalty in Russia by presidential decree.

(C)MEDUZA 2024