Russian Muslim activist Metin Mehtiev murdered in Moscow

Thursday, 12 April 2012 10:41

Well-known Russian Muslim activist of Azeri origin, Metin Mehtiev was brutally murdered April 10 2012, at 01.30 h  in the centre of Moscow.

Mehtiev was murdered in front of the entrance to his house on Vtoraya Brestskaya St. 43 where he lived with his family. According to relatives, Mehtiev went to the grocery store late in the evening to shop for the arrival of his young wife and their two-month old child.

The witness of the incident informed that he heard calls for help and saw that Mehtiev was beaten up and stabbed by a group of aggressors. The witness also mentioned that there was a female among the aggressors. It should be noted that participation of women in assaults on people with non-Slavic look is not a single case. A few years ago, similar assaults happened in Saint Petersburg when groups of national-extremists murdered a number of immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia. Thereby, the women factor is used as a cover in case of arrest by the police.

Mehtiev already had been the object of aggression from national-extremists in 2003 and was then hospitalized with many injuries.

Metin Mehtiev was 33 years old. Despite his young age he was involved in great activities. He helped immigrants from the Caucasus to integrate within the Moscow society, worked with difficult youth and with students, cooperated with such authoritative organizations like the Russian Congress of Caucasian Peoples, Russian Muftis Council, Spiritual Administration of Russian Muslims, Caucasian Human Rights Center and Islamic Cultural Center of Russia. He has also been a contact person for the EMU during many activities it carried out in cooperation with the Muslims of Russia.

Mehtiev’s family was left without its only breadwinner, his little son left without father and Russian Muslims suffer the loss of an eminent brother. The board and the work teams of the EMU express their condolences to the family of Metin Mehtiev and all who knew him and appreciated his work, and ask Allah to cover him with his mercy in the grave and the next world.