Residents of Chechnya publicly apologize to officials for their behaviour in Moscow

The authorities of Chechnya forced to return from Moscow about a hundred natives of the republic, whom the law enforcement bodies consider to be drug addicts and lawbreakers. The returned young people publicly repented and were sent to community service.

Chechen law enforcers brought a hundred young men from Moscow and gathered them together. The law enforcers also invited relatives of the returned young men "to report what young people are doing in the capital under the pretext of work and study." This was reported by the Chechen "Grozny" state-run TV Company in a story broadcasted in the evening news on August 3. According to an author of the TV report, the number of the returned young people included "criminals, swindlers, and drug addicts."

The young men returned to the Chechen Republic from Moscow and their relatives were addressed by Adam Delimkhanov, a Russian State Duma member and an adviser to the leader of Chechnya, Ruslan Alkhanov, Chechen Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA), and Aslan Abdulaev, the director of the Chechen Department for Relations with Religious and Public Organizations. Adam Delimkhanov told the relatives of the young people that all those brought from Moscow would be involved in community service, while Ruslan Alkhanov, Chechen Minister of Internal Affairs, accused the young men returned from Moscow of discrediting the Chechen people.

The detainees themselves voiced their repentance.

In their comments to the TV report, most social network users condemned the actions of the young people. However, some users also criticized the authorities of Chechnya. "Well, we know how you gather them. You also added to this batch all the people who left to work at construction sites. There are only 20% of guys who are drug addicts and swindlers," noted user folkontro.

Residents of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they did not consider the actions of the republic's authorities to be effective.

The Chechen law enforcement bodies have once again resorted to forms of influence on violators not provided for by law, notes Adam, a resident of Chechnya. "If a person commits some kind of offense, he actually should be punished, but strictly according to the law. Meanwhile, it is not a good practice to gather all lawbreakers in one place, drive their relatives there, publicly humiliate, and force all of them to repent. It makes no sense to demand from relatives to control their son, who lives 2000 kilometres away from them," said Adam.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2020 at 12:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.