Geydar Dzhahidovich Dzhemal was a Russian Islamic public figure, activist, philosopher, poet, political and social activist.
12 Facts About Geydar Dzhemal
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Geydar Dzhemal was the founder and chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia.
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Geydar Dzhemal was the Co-chairman and member of the Presidium of the Russian Social Movement "Russian Islamic Heritage", permanent member of the Popular Arab and Islamic Congress, one of the founders and a member of the Coordinating Council of the Left Front, member of The Other Russia.
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Geydar Dzhemal's father was the Azerbaijani artist Dzakhid Dzemal, who is believed to be a descendant of Hulagu Khan.
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Geydar Dzhemal's mother was Irina Shapovalova, a well-known equestrian and horse trainer descended from the noble Shepelev family.
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Geydar Dzhemal's parents divorced when he was very young and he was raised by his maternal grandparents.
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In 1965, after graduation from school, Geydar Dzhemal entered the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University, but a year later was expelled for "bourgeois nationalism".
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Geydar Dzhemal later took a job as an editor at the "Medicine" Publishing House, where he met a Moscow State University graduate, Ilya Moskvin.
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Under KGB pressure, the organisation disbanded; to escape compulsory military service, Geydar Dzhemal claimed to be schizophrenic and was sent to a psychiatric institution.
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Geydar Dzhemal was a participant in the Popular Arab and Islamic Conference in Khartoum and consecutively became a member of its permanent council.
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Geydar Dzhemal was among the 34 first signatories of an online anti-Vladimir Putin manifesto, "Putin Must Go", published on 10 March 2010.
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On 30 July 2018, his son, journalist Orkhan Geydar Dzhemal, was killed along with film director and cameraman while filming a documentary about the activities of a Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group in the Central African Republic.