Remains of Imam Shamil's associate Haji-Murat to be returned to Dagestan

Dagestan authorities are planning to return the remains of Imam Shamil's associate Haji-Murat to his historical homeland, the press service of the regional Government reports.

"The head of the region, Sergei Melikov, has given a separate order to solve the issue of returning the remains of naib Khadzhi-Murat and other Dagestani soldiers to their historical homeland for a decent burial" - the statement runs.

This will be supervised by a special working group of the regional Public Chamber, the state secretary of the republic Magomed-Sultan Magomedov as well as the representatives of state bodies and public figures.

An inquiry: the remains of Haji-Murat of Khunzakh (1816-1852) - famous military commander, naib Imam Shamil, are now in Azerbaijan and Russia. He was killed on April 23, 1852 in an unequal armed clash in the territory of the present Gakh region of Azerbaijan. After his death, Haji-Murat's head was cut off fr om his body by his blood enemy, Haji-Aga, the chief of Nukha militia. The body was buried at the battlefield by the local residents and the head was sent to Tiflis and then to St Petersburg wh ere it was stored in the Military Medical Academy. Hadji Murat is the hero of Leo Tolstoy's novel of the same name, written in the late 1890s and early 1900s.