MOSCOW, August 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s Muftis Council voices concern over the growth of attacks on clergymen, the Council’s deputy chairman, Damir Mukhetdinov, wrote on his blog on Wednesday.
“Earlier we said imams had become one of radicals’ targets. Now we can say the clergy of all confessions are on their gunpoint,” Mukhetdinov said.
He recalled that Muslim cleric Ilyas Ilyasov and Orthodox clergyman Pavel Adelgeim had been killed and Rabbi Ovadia Isakov had been heavily wounded in the last two weeks. “The background, the motives and weapons can be different in three cases. But the root cause is common - atheism and aggressive Satanism,” he said.
“I cannot say other way because it is impossible to explain the murder of a man of God whose weapon is the word and whose interest is a spiritual mission,” Mukhetdinov said.