The six Moscow residents had met to study the teachings of the late Islamic scholar Said Nursi. However, they stand accused of “organising” and “participating in” the activities of “Nurdzhular”, which was banned as extremist in 2008 but which Muslims in Russia deny ever existed as a formal organisation. If convicted, the six men could face lengthy prison sentences or six-figure fines.

The men have been in detention in Moscow’s infamous Butyrka Prison since their arrests in October 2021.

The indictment accuses four of the defendants of creating an “organised and purposeful gathering of pupils of a ‘home madrassah'”, in which they “conducted propaganda work among these citizens, their training within the framework of the teachings of Said Nursi – namely, [they] carried out oral public translation of books from [Nursi’s collection of sermons] Risale-i Nur .. held collective discussions of these books, [and] joined with students in conversations, explaining to them the provisions of this religious literature”.