* Some 70 people, 20 children found in unheated, unlit cells
* Prosecutors have opened a criminal case
MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Seventy members of an Islamist
sect who have been living in an underground bunker without heat
or sunlight for nearly a decade have been discovered living on
the outskirts of the city of Kazan in Russia, local media
reported.
The sect members included 20 children, the youngest of whom
had just turned 18 months. Many of them were born underground
and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered
their dwelling on Aug. 1 and sent them for health checks.
A 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant.
Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed
in 1991, prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the
vacuum that opened up.
The group - known as the "Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named
after its 83-year-old organiser Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared
himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state,
according to a report by state TV channel Vesti.
Satarov was described as a former deputy to a Sunni Islamic
cleric in the 1970s. His followers were encouraged to read his
manuscripts and most were banned from leaving their eight-storey
underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a
building, Vesti said.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the
sect and have said it will be disbanded if it continues its
illegal activities, such as stopping its members from seeking
medical assistance or education.
No arrests have been made although police are likely to look
into suspicions that some of the children were being abused. A
court will decide whether the children will be allowed to stay
with their parents.
Kazan is located 800 km (497 miles) east of Moscow in
Tatarstan, a majority Muslim internal Russian republic.
(Reporting By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya; Editing by Andrew
Osborn)