Prosecutors in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya asked a court in Grozny to sentence a young man to 3 1/2 years in prison for publicly burning a Koran. Nikita Zhuravel, 19, who publicly burned a Koran in the Russian city of Volgograd, was charged with "insulting believers' feelings" and "religious hatred-based hooliganism." In August, a video showing Adam Kadyrov, the 15-year-old son of Chechnya's authoritarian ruler Ramzan Kadyrov, beating Zhuravel caused public outrage. Rights defenders have questioned the legality of Zhuravel's trial being held in mostly Muslim-populated Chechnya instead of the Volgograd region, where he publicly burned the Koran. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Caucasus.Realities, click here.
Prosecutors Seek More Than Three Years In Prison For Russian Teen Over Koran Burning
Nikita Zhuravel, 19, who publicly burned a Koran in the Russian city of Volgograd, was charged with "insulting believers' feelings" and "religious hatred-based hooliganism."