Murder in Botlikh reminds preservation of blood feud custom

The murder committed during a mass brawl at a football match in the village of Botlikh has created a pretext for a blood feud. Blood feud is very dangerous, since every incident concerns not only the family, but also the state, Alexei Malashenko has warned. If the injured party agrees to reconciliation, then there will be no blood feud, Akhmet Yarlykapov believes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 27, at least four persons suffered in a mass brawl in the village of Botlikh, one of them later died. On June 29, the families of the brawlers started reconciliation talks, but they have failed to reach reconciliation yet.

The party whose member has committed the murder is in favour of reconciliation, Professor Alexei Malashenko has recalled. In this case, given that families are distant relatives, reconciliation should be of an intra-family nature.

"Today, the Caucasus is trying to get rid of this custom as quickly as possible; and Ramzan Kadyrov has succeeded in this. Blood feud is very dangerous. Each incident concerns not only a family, relatives and ethnic group, but also the state," Mr Malashenko has added.

"In the Caucasus, the major problem is legal nihilism, when people play with laws; and one can freely kill someone and then reach reconciliation," Saida Sirazhudinova, a sociologist, has noted.

In the republic, it is treated as normal to use violence, but the incident is not resolved within the legal field, she has added.

The blood feud can extend not only to the killer, but to other persons, depending on the Adats, family and residence, Ms Sirazhudinova has explained. However, today the blood feud is extremely rarely covering relatives.