Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Sat, 8 Mar 1997 14:34:03 -0800 (PST)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
(Center for Civil Society has edited the material below for length or
clarity. Apologies for X-posts.)
URGENT! NEWS OF MURDER OF ADVENTISTS IN DAGESTAN.
Friends,
My name is Andrei Nikitin, I work as Director of Communications at Faith
For Today Television in Simi Valley, California, USA. I received the
terrible news about Dagestan murders today by e-mail. It is from the
Adventist Forum on the Compuserve and it was posted by Ray Dabrowski,
Communication Director for the General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists. His e-mail address is: [email protected]
This news is very alarming. P.S. The name of local source who sent it
has, on his request, been deleted in order to protect him. He is a local
pastor in southern Russia...I am sure that it needs verification, and that
the world news agencies will be reporting it in more detail. But because
of the urgent character of this information and possibility of more
violence I decided to share this news with you.
Please, if you have any ways to contact the leaders of Dagestan and
Russia, do your best to communicate your outrage with what has happpened
and your concern about possible future massacres.
Please, pray that more blood of innocent people will not be shed. The more
people know about this, the more difficult will it be to keep these crimes
secret. This, hopefully, will discourage those planning more violence
from committing it.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Andrei Nikitin
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
DATE: 3/5/97 4:26 PM
RE: DEATH of SDAs!!!
READ CAREFULLY EVERYBODY!!! YOU MUST KNOW IT.
Russia, Southern Part of the country, Caucasus, Republic of Dagestan,
Moslem area, the territory of SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) North-Caucasus
Conference, the city of Buinaksk.
For some time throughout Dagestan many small kids have been disappearing.
No one could be found. The local police's version is this: the
kidnappings are for the purpose of selling children's organs abroad and
using them in medical operations as transplants. Just lately local SDAs
have been accused in this kidnapping. In Dagestan we have about 100 SDAs
in many cities.
In the city of Buinaksk young SDA couple (age 33-35) have been doing
evangelism. Due to their efforts a small group of 8 members was raised
up.
She was Russian. He was Avaretz (ethnic group among many Dagestan
nationalities, which are all moslems). He became an adventist. They
married and started preaching Christ. His relatives cursed them. Her name
was Tanya and his was Hadgimurat. Their last name was Magomedov.
By somebody (probably moslem leaders) they were accused in kidnapping.
Raging crowds of moslems and others rushed upon Tanya and Hadgimurat. In
the city square they were torturing in a way that I can't describe in
English. The violence was incredible and long lasting. Hundreds
participated. But our brother and sister were still alive. Then somebody
poured out gasoline upon them and fired them. After having been on fire
for some time our brother and sister at last died. Crowds were laughing
and clapping. It was like Satan himself was among those. It happened on
March 4, 1997.
Our members called over telefone and told us that the local TV took the
picture of torturing. We were told that they are going to show it on the
local Dagestan TV. To show everybody what will happen to those SDAs who
does kidnapping. The condemnation is still on SDAs. One execution is not
enough.
The rest of our members are trying to send their children out of Dagestan
and thus to save them. That pastor who baptized Hadgimurat is called to
come to police today in the city of Mahachkala (it's a Dagestans's
capital). His last name is Ahmedov. We are afraid of another crowd
execution. Some other of our members in the other cities of Dagestan are
also called to come to police..... Pray for them to stay courageous in
faith.
Friends, I've started remaking my letter....Just now, while I was typing a
baptist pastor called to me and said this: He got a reliable information
that on this Sabbath March 8, several groups of people are going to make
massacre in 6 SDA churches in the city of Rostov-on-Don. The pastor says
these people belong to ultraright wing of a communist party, whose leader
is general Bakashov (he lives in Moscow). They have an intention to wipe
out adventists from Russia, as happened with Aum Sinrikye.
I talked to our brothers here over telefone. They feel there is a
connection with the events in Dagestan. If it is a beginning of "holy war"
against SDAs at least in the South of Russia, we have only 41 hours to
prepare.
I can't undrestand why Russia was welcomed to the Council of Eroupe. We
must make this killing known everywhere in the world...Send it to SDAs
On-line. But before that delete my name, because this is not a kind of
country where to mention your name is safe. They will try to keep the
killing and religious persecutions from the world public. Help us. Today
you keep silence, tomorrow you will be killed. Let's remember that God is
ready to do something very important for this country using the tragedy.
Will we do our part?
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