23:25, 26 May 2014

Experts doubt the need to create self-defence units in Sogratl

Residents of Sogratl village on Victory Day, May 9, 2014. Photo: http://sovet.sogratl.net/events/2014/9May

Residents of the village of Sogratl, Gunib District of Dagestan, are drafting regulations for self-defence units and compile lists of members thereof, as Amirkhan Magomeddadaev, the deputy of the Dagestani presidential envoy to the Mountain Territorial District, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The need to create such units is questionable, experts say.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the decision to create self-defence units was made in Sogratl by residents' gathering on May 22. These voluntary formations should reveal persons involved in illegal armed formations (IAFs).

Gadjimurad Sagitov, the editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly "Novoe Delo", who was born in Sogratl, fears that this form of combating extremism, like self-defence units, may result not in stabilization, but in quite opposite results.

"We saw the result it gave in the village of Khadjalmakhi – victims. Imagine that somewhere near the village an armed man stopped without any IDs and demands something. What am I supposed to think? How should I respond? All this can lead to unexpected consequences," Gadjimurad Sagitov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Author: Aida Magomedova

Source: CK correspondent