A citizen of Volgograd who burned the Koran will be tried in Chechnya at the request of the Chechens

The criminal case for insulting the feelings of believers, initiated after the fact that Volgograd Nikita Zhuravel burnt the Koran, has been transferred for further investigation in Chechnya, the Investigative Committee of Russia reported.

This decision was made by the chairman of the TFR, Alexander Bastrykin, after the appeal of the inhabitants of the republic who applied for recognition as victims, the department said.

19-year-old Zhuravel, suspected of burning the Koran on camera near the mosque on Povorinskaya Street, was detained the day before in Volgograd. During the interrogation, he testified that he had committed the act “at the behest of the Ukrainian special services for a reward of 10,000 zlotys. rubles.”

Video footage provided by the FSB shows law enforcement arresting a courier riding a bicycle with a backpack from the Samokat courier company. In the next frame, a young man is lying face down on the floor. He says people from Ukraine recruited him via Telegram.

Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko welcomed Bastrykin’s decision to refer the case to the Investigative Committee of the Chechen Republic. He also said that he considered it “necessary and right” to send the Koran that had committed the arson after sentencing to a colony in a region dominated by Muslim populations.

Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov has already assessed such incidents. So, in April, a video appeared on the network in which an unknown person burns the Koran near the White Lake in Moscow. Earlier, there were protests against the construction of the “largest in Russia” mosque.

Kadyrov said that “Ukrainian provocateurs” may be involved in the burning of the Koran and promised to find everyone involved. Earlier, he announced a reward of 10 million rubles for the capture of a military APU who lit a fire with pages from the holy book of Muslims. “For the elimination of this scum, I announce a reward of 5 million rubles. For taking alive – twice as much – 10 million rubles,” wrote Kadyrov.