Underground Religion Cult Found In Russia

Seventy members
of an Islamist sect who have been living
in an underground bunker without heat
or sunlight for nearly a decade have
been discovered living on the outskirts
of the city of Kazan in Russia, local media reported. The sect members included 20 children,
the youngest of whom had just turned
18 months. Many of them were born
underground and had never seen
daylight until the prosecutors discovered
their dwelling on August 1 and sent them for health checks. A 17-year-old girl turned out to be
pregnant. Religion was suppressed in the Soviet
Union which collapsed in 1991,
prompting various cults and sects to
flourish in the vacuum that opened up. The group - known as the
"Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named after
its 83-year-old organiser Fayzrahman
Satarov, who declared himself a prophet
and his house an independent Islamic
state, according to a report by state TV channel Vesti. Satarov was described as a former
deputy to a Sunni Islamic cleric in the
1970s. His followers were encouraged
to read his manuscripts and most were
banned from leaving their eight-storey
underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a building, Vesti
said.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal
investigation into the sect and have said
it will be disbanded if it continues its
illegal activities, such as stopping its
members from seeking medical
assistance or education. No arrests have been made although
police are likely to look into suspicions
that some of the children were being
abused.
A court will decide whether the
children will be allowed to stay with their
parents.
Kazan is located 800 km (497 miles) east
of Moscow in Tatarstan, a majority
Muslim internal Russian republic.