Slonim: Police Bring Criminal Case on Acts of Vandalism at Moslem Cemetery

According to BelaPAN

On 12 January Slonim district police department brought a case under article #399 part 1 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism). The article provides corrective labor, fine, up to 6 months of arrest and up to 2 years of imprisonment as a punishment.

In his interview with BelaPAN a deputy mufti of Moslem religious association of the Republic of Belarus and the chair-imam of Slonim mosque Suleiman-Khadzhi Beirasheuski said that the results of the vandalism act were discovered on 6 January at the Moslem cemetery 5 kilometers away from Slonim, during a funeral. ‘Unknown vandals tore off four gravestones from the graves of Moslem soldiers of the Russian Empire who had perished in Belarus in 1915, during World War I. Two of the gravestones were smashed. According to the imam, a similar thing happened there in 1996, when unknown persons dug six graves. A criminal case was brought as well, but the criminals weren’t found. In 2002 vandals defiled the local mosque by leaving a swastika and ‘Time to Kill!’ graffiti on its walls. They haven’t been found as well. At the same time, Mr. Bairashevski believes all these vandal acts aren’t related to one another.