2012-04-26 10:02:00
Moscow, April 26, Interfax - A lawyer who came under fierce attack after suggesting that sharia courts be introduced in Russia said on Wednesday that his idea had been misinterpreted and that he planned a lawsuit to restore his reputation.
"It's for civil law situations, and family law issues even more so, that I was talking about. My words have been distorted and presented in the wrong context," Dagir Khasavov told Interfax. "I'm now working on a lawsuit. I will file a suit to protect my honor, dignity and business reputation."
"I didn't suggest anything illegal," he added.
"When I was talking about sharia courts, I had in mind not criminal cases but minor internal family cases, cases of inheritance law, in order to reduce the workload of the general courts, so that two Muslims could solve a problem within the bounds of law. My words were distorted and represented in such a way that I was trying to exacerbate the situation. It's arbitration courts I meant," he said.
Earlier, Khasavov told one of the federal television channels that Russian Muslims are reluctant to go to secular courts and that for this reason sharia courts should be introduced. Otherwise there might be large-scale bloodshed, he argued.
Liberal opposition party Yabloko immediately asked the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Investigative Committee to intervene.