Kazan, August 24, 2022

Experts discussed religious discrimination in Russian colonies, as well as the socialization of former prisoners during the panel discussion dedicated to the issue of Muslims held in correctional facilities. The meeting was organized by the Billion Tatars project.

A well-known Kazan lawyer Ruslan Nagiyev said that he often encounters complaints from Muslim prisoners about feeding pork which is forbidden in Islam, as well as the ban on the reading Koran or performing prayers.

“If we talk about food, then the problem exists throughout Russia and it needs to be solved centrally. There are vegetarians, Muslims, and Jews who only eat kosher food, and so on. One of the ways we see is fast food. This is the most painless solution to this problem now. But in any case, we are humanizing, and, perhaps, over time, we will come to the fact that there will be both halal and kosher, and so on,” said Azat Gainutdinov, director general of the Center for Social Rehabilitation and Adaptation.

The reason for the meeting was a recent story that happened in the Chistopol pre-trial detention center No.5. One of Muslims held there said that he was forced to skip meals, since they were cooked from pork. The situation was made public by the lawyer Ruslan Nagiev, who applied to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Tatarstan with a request to conduct an inspection in the detention center, “Tatar-inform” reports.