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FSB Searches Apartment of Islamic Leader

Federal Security Service agents over the weekend conducted a search for "extremist materials" in the apartment of Islamic Committee of Russia head Geydar Dzhemal, Gazeta.ru reported Tuesday.

Dzhemal told the news site that agents came to his home early Sunday morning saying they needed to conduct a search. The five FSB agents leafed through his books and went through files on his computer, Dzhemal said. He said that when asked, the agents could not name a single title contained on Russia's list of banned books.

"It was, of course, an act of intimidation," Dzhemal said.

The Islamic Committee of Russia, a nongovernmental organization, has come under fire from authorities in the past. In 2009, United Russia parliamentarian Maxim Mishchenko asked the Prosecutor General's office to pronounce the group extremist and to pursue criminal charges against Dzhemal, Gazeta.ru reported.

Dzhemal is also part of the coordinating council of opposition group Left Front.

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