Russian student jailed for Quran burning now faces new treason trial for alleged ties to Ukraine’s security service

MOSCOW, Nov 2 — A Russian student will face trial this month for treason on behalf of Ukraine, a court said Friday, after the 20-year-old was jailed in Chechnya for allegedly burning the Quran.

Nikita Zhuravel was arrested in May 2023 for allegedly burning the Islamic religious book in the southern city of Volgograd.

In an unprecedented move, Russia’s Investigative Committee sent him to be tried in Muslim-majority Chechnya upon the request of its leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who posted a video of his son kicking the student and throwing him to the floor.

Zhuravel was sentenced in February to 3.5 years in prison for “insulting the feelings of believers”.

Prosecutors on Friday set a date for a new trial against the 20-year-old after announcing treason charges last month, accusing Zhuravel of working with Ukraine’s security service.

“The (first hearing) is set for November 14,” a Volgograd court said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

The case will be heard behind closed doors, it added.

If convicted, Zhuravel faces a new sentence of at least 12 years and up to life in prison.

The announcement suggested that Zhuravel would be brought to Volgograd for the trial.

Volgograd prosecutors last month accused him of reaching out to Kyiv’s services in March 2023 and sending them videos of a train carrying military equipment.

Zhuravel, who is from Russian-annexed Crimea but was studying in Volgograd, was 19 at the time of his arrest.

He was arrested after a video was posted on social media showing an unknown person — whose face is not visible — burning a Quran in front of a mosque in Volgograd.

At the time, investigators said that Zhuravel had burned the Quran on Ukrainian orders.

He was then handed to Chechnya after Kadyrov stepped in — in a first such transfer.

The decision to hand him to Chechnya’s notorious authorities was later backed by President Vladimir Putin as fair.

Human rights NGO Memorial said there was no public evidence that Zhuravel himself burned the Quran, as the video circulated on social media did not identify him. — AFP