Russian Muslim sect charged for keeping children underground. Police discovered 27 children and 38 adults living in catacomb-like cells in an eight-level underground bunker in Russia.

Members of a Russian Islamic sect found living in an underground bunker with 27 children, many of whom have never seen the sun, have been charged with child abuse.

The Muslim sect have been living underground in Russia, isolated from the outside world, with no access to healthcare, education and proper ventilation. The cramped cells descend on 8 levels under a decrepit, 3-storey brick house on a 700 sq meters plot of land.

Russian authorities said the Islamist cult had existed for nearly ten years without natural light or heating in their subterranean dwelling. The expansive man-made cave was discovered underneath a brick building on the outskirts of the central city of Kazan.

The sect’s founder, 83-year-old Satarov, who claims to be the last Muslim prophet, ordered his followers to live in catacombs, which they dug themselves at least a decade ago.

Catacomb Muslim sect uncovered in Russia / 27 abused children have never seen the daylight in their live

The Muslim sect was uncovered during an investigation into recent attacks on Muslim clerics in Tatarstan. The members of the Islamic group, known as the Fayzrahmanist sect, has included 27 children aged between 1 and 17, which many of them were born underground and had never known the outside world until the authorities freed them August 1.

Russian authorities said the children, aged between 1 and 17 years, had never left the compound, gone to school or been treated by a doctor, and had rarely seen the light of day. 19 under-age children were removed by the Russian police officers, some of them placed in care, others in hospital.

83-year-old Satarov, declared himself as an Islamic prophet in the mid-1960s after interpreting sparks from a trolleybus cable as a divine light from God. Sattarov and his followers began to shun the outside world in the early part of present century.

The Muslim sect, dubbed Faizrakhmanists after their founder and leader Satarov, reportedly do not recognise Russian state laws or the authority of mainstream Muslim leaders in Tatarstan. Only a few sect members were allowed to leave the underground community to work as traders at a local market.

Shocking discovery in Russia / Islamic sect members lived in Catacombs were charged for child abuse

Kazan-based theologian, Rais Suleimanov, has told to the reporters that Islam postulates that there are no other prophets after Muhammad and the teachings of Muslim sect leader Satarov, who declared himself a prophet, have been rejected by traditional Muslims.

Prosecutors have initiated a criminal inquiry and said the Muslim sect will be dissolved if it continues the illegal activities. The Russian officers will also investigate suspicions of whether the children were abused in other ways besides depriving them of basic rights.

One of the pediatrician doctors said that the children would temporarily live in an orphanage. The abused children have looked nourished but dirty, so they had to wash them.

According to the reports, only a court can decide whether to allow the children to stay with their parents. The parents have expressed concern about their children’s medical treatment.

In Islamic sect Satarov’s house was raided last week as part of an investigation into the killings of 2 clerics who were critical of the puritanical Islamist groups known as the Salafis.