Chechen and Ingush authorities outraged by data on "honour killings"

The report of the "Legal Initiative", dealing with the so-called "honour killings" in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya, is groundless, the adviser to the head of Ingushetia has stated. There are no so-called "honour killings" in Chechnya, since there are no immoral women, the press secretary of the head of the republic has declared.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 6, the "Legal Initiative" published its report "Killed by Gossip. Honour Killings of Women in Northern Caucasus". According to rights defenders, in the period from 2008 to 2017, there were 33 such cases, as a result of which 39 people were killed, including 36 women and three men.

The results of the study of the participants of the "Legal Initiative" project about the killings of young women by their close relatives "in the name of honour" in Northern Caucasus have no grounds, Artyom Perekhrist, an adviser to the head of Ingushetia, stated on 6 December.

"In Northern Caucasus, including Ingushetia, there are no cavemen. Anyone who wants to check it out can come to us. Here hospitable people live, who will show their life and traditions and tell that the regions of Northern Caucasus are first and foremost part of a secular state, in which the human rights violations are not tolerated. This report has no grounds," the TASS quotes Mr Perekhrist as saying.

In his turn, Alvi Karimov, the press secretary of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has stated, in his comment on the report of the "Legal Initiative", that there are no so-called "honour killings" in Chechnya, since there are no immoral women in the republic.

He added that murders of women in Chechnya are rare at all, the "Interfax" reported on December 6. "I can state confidently that the Chechen Republic is in last place in Russia in terms of the number of murders of women – whatever the motives may be," Mr Karimov has assured, without specifying, however, the data, on which his conclusions are based.

The information presented in the report should be studied, said Zubair Zubairuev, the head of the informational policy department of the administration of the head of Dagestan, in his radio interview on December 6.

"I would like to know the exact figures. Whether it happens with us or not, I don’t know. I won't say that this is a familiar phenomenon for us; and everyone knows about it. But 'honour killings' – I heard that it happens ... We will check it, because reporters sometimes lie. After your request, we'll check," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 7, 2018 at 02:47 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.