Post date: Aug 10, 2012 7:36:26 PM
KAZAN, RUSSIA (AUGUST 10, 2012) (REUTERS) - An Imam in the Russian city of Kazan on Friday (August 10) said Islamist sect members who were uncovered earlier this month living in a multi-storey underground bunker on the city's outskirts had a limited understanding of Islam.
Kazan Imam Rustem Zinnurov says members of a sect uncovered living in a multi-storey bunker earlier this month practised a strange theology.
Police say more than 70 people were living in the 8-level underground compound, including 20 children. A sect member told Reuters the youngest member was seven months old.
The group - which has been dubbed the "Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named after its 83-year-old organiser Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state.
Following prayers, Imam Rustem Zinnurov said he had met some of the sect members, and that they practised a strange theology built around themselves.
"They came to the mosque, and I understood how the people have a fairly, shall we say, have a limited world view. The people have a limited understanding of the Koran, let's say. They have their own understanding of it, and the whole problem is that the people start to interpret the Koran in the way they want," the Imam said, adding, "I can't say that the people were aggressive, but they were circling around some ideas, around some words."
Zinnurov said he felt for the children in the sect and hoped that society would accept them.
"I think that it (society) can accept (sect members back into) it. Especially children. They are not guilty of anything. I'm a father, I have my own kids,. their kids are the same as our kids. Although I haven't seen it myself, but according to the doctors and specialists, they are exactly the same kids," Zinnurov said.
Kazan Deputy Prosecutor Irina Petrova said her office had opened a criminal investigation into the sect and criminal charges were likely.
"The head of this organisation, Satarov, prohibits its members from going to the hospital and getting medical help, and he prohibits children from going to school, so the constitutional rights for education and healthcare of the citizens are being violated," Petrova said.
"In respect to Satarov, the criminal case has been started, according to part 1 of the article 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, that means self-governing," she added.
Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991, prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the vacuum that opened up.