Chechen authorities force participant of gathering in Davydenko village to apologize for her words about law enforcers

Maret Zanzulaeva, a resident of Chechnya, who delivered speech at a gathering held in the village of Davydenko, apologized for her statements about the land conflict and denied information about the beating of people by law enforcers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 26, in the village of Davydenko in the Achkhoi-Martan District of Chechnya, there was a conflict between local residents and law enforcers. According to villagers, employees of the administration claimed 75,000 roubles from tenants of several houses; and when they refused to pay, they brought in construction machines accompanied by policemen. There was a skirmish, during which power agents beat up tenants and detained three of them.

On the other day, a video was posted on the Internet, which showed the emotional speeches of the villagers in the Chechen language. On the video, one of the women talks about beatings of people by policemen and several times calls one of the policemen a "bullish head," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

This woman turned out to be Maret Zanzulaeva. In the report of the Chechen State TV and Radio Company (ChSTRC) "Grozny", shown in the evening of March 29, Chechen Parliament Speaker Magomed Daudov thanks Maret Zanzulaeva for accepting the invitation to meet him.

"In Chechnya, rumours are spread, and there are a lot of those who are waiting for something to happen in Chechnya... I ask you: have anybody from the authorities created any problems for you?" Magomed Daudov addresses in the Chechen language a woman sitting before him.

The woman sits with her eyes lowered and answers in the negative.

Besides, the Chechen Parliament Speaker asks Maret Zanzulaeva if she ever witnessed that any of law enforcers touched other villagers. And the woman again replies: "No."

"I was saying about something I did not see. I was not aware that they were shooting [a video]. I'm sorry," the woman said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.