Residents of Chechnya criticize campaign for reunification of broken families

The Chechen authorities have reported about reunification of 1500 divorced family couples. However, local residents doubt the viability of marriages, restored at the demand of authorities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July 2017, the head of Chechnya ordered to set up commissions for settling family conflicts.

On June 19, during a meeting of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, with members of the government, district heads, MPs, clergymen and officers of power bodies, Salakh Mezhiev noted that thanks to the work of the commissions for settling family conflicts, they managed to reunite 1500 families.

However, the Chechen residents, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", said that the family reunification was carried out under pressure and doubted the strength of such marriages.

"Last year, I divorced with my wife; the child, according to our customs, is with me. One day, I was visited by my Imam and several other people; they said that I should restore my family. The Imam said about Islam and Sharia, and that separation of children with their mother is a big sin. They involved our elders; and in the end I had to agree in order to respect them. Now, although we live like one family, but still, the relationships are not like before, and hardly when they will become like that," Rasul, a local resident, said.

"I vote with both hands for family reunification; it's really a very good and necessary thing, but the methods that they use here to solve this problem seem unacceptable to me," Khamzat, a Grozny resident, said on family reunification.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 22, 2018 at 08:52 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.