Muslim lawyer pledges to 'cover Russia in blood'

Moscow, April 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Police in the Russian capital said Wednesday they will examine a video in which a prominent Muslim lawyer pledges to "cover Russia in blood" if the authorities refuse to establish courts to implement Islamic law.

"May be you are foreigners here, and this is our home. We will set our rules, whether you want this or not," Dagir Khasavov, a lawyer and aide to an upper house committee chairman, said in an interview with the REN TV channel.

"Any attempts to stop this will result in blood. We will turn the city (Moscow) into a second dead sea," he was quoted as saying.

Russian Chief Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin condemned Khasavov's statement.

Geidar Dzhemal, head of an influential group called Islamic Committee, said there might have been a "misunderstanding".

Sergei Mitrokhin, co-head of the liberal Yabloko party, wrote on Twitter that he would ask prosecutors to bring extremist charges against Khasavov.

Khasavov recently announced plans to establish an international Muslim union to be governed by a system of Shariat courts.

Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin warned against "restricting the Islamic community in living by their own rules" but said it was unacceptable to "impose these rules on others outside your community".

--IANS/RIA Novosti

pm/dg