Authorities destroy Muslim cemetery with burials in Stary Krym

On Monday, the municipal services of Stary Krym (Kirov region) began to dismantle the fence, installed in the new Muslim cemetery. said Chair of the Muslim community "Vatan" of Stary Krym town Rasim Sadredynov was reported as saying this by Krym.Realii.

He said that previously the local authorities approved the allocation of this land plot to cemetery.

"Now everything has been played back. There is  the prosecutor's decision that all the studies that are conducted here are incorrect. They claim that allegedly non-state actors gave the permit to build the cemetery. There is a court decision that bans to expand the territory of the cemetery,” Rasym Sadredynov says.

He noted that supervisory authorities have concluded that the alleged groundwater from this site goes to the river, which flows into the reservoir. "The distance from ​​the cemetery to the residential area is 300 meters, which was in compliance with the provisions of Ukrainian law, when a land plot for the cemetery was allocated. Russian law requires at least 250 meters - all the provisions have been met,” Sadredynov says.

He believes that this issue is "politicized." "All the time, as we want to do anything, we face opposition,” Sadredynov says.

At the Muslim cemetery, there is already one burial. Sadredynov says that the municipal services offer to perform a reburial or leave the tomb on the site.

Head of the Muslim community also said that the question of the cemetery has been "acute for 10 years." "Actually there is no place to bury people anywhere. On the old cemetery they bury at the corners, moreover, it is also in the protection zone. There is a water tank where one cannot hide,” Sadredynov says.

As an alternative, he says, the government has proposed an area for the cemetery outside the city, but the community is not happy with the proposal. “It get flooded when subsoil water go up,” Rasym Sadredynov says.

According to Radio Liberty, the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Crimea has not yet commented on the situation.