World Bulletin / News Desk

 The European Court of Human Rights has for the first time accepted an application from Russian Muslims to build a mosque in a statement by Dagir Khasavov, a prominent lawyer in Russia regarding “Islam News”.

Muslims living in the city of Kaliningrad, whose application was denied by Russian courts, then made an application to the ECHR. Muslims in Kaliningrad have fought for 20 long years in order to build their own mosque. With this in mind, Muslims had purchased and allocated land for this in 2009. Construction of the mosque began in 2010 but was suspected in December 2013. Kaliningrad Court made a decision claiming that the mosque land was located in a recreation area and of regional and cultural importance, and anulled the decision of land allocation.

The Russian Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Russian Muslims. The local government demanded that the mosque, of which 80% had been built, be demolished. The ECHM accepted the application by the Muslims, with the application decision to be made after an assesment. With a very little number of mosques or lack thereof, has caused serious issues between the Muslims and the government of Russia.