Chechen residents note deepening of practice to apologize to law enforcers

Recent public apologies prove the desire of the law enforcement bodies to stop even the most general criticism, residents of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 11, a video was posted on public Instagram account "ChP/Chechnya". In the video, Khizir Almaskaev, a resident of the Gudermes District, apologized for posting on the Internet a video in which he addressed a phrase of condemnation to a GIBDD (road police) car driving by. At night on January 12, a video appeared on Instagram in which Khizir Almaskaev apologized for criticizing Chechen policemen.

"The guy who sits in a car sees a police car driving by and emotionally desires punishment for the police from the Almighty Allah," said local resident Fatima. And she continues: "That's all, nothing more. I can't understand what kind of a crime or an offense he committed. Perhaps, the guy took some kind of offence against one or another law enforcer. Maybe, he just does not like the police, and he expressed his dissatisfaction using his own words. For me, this is extra evidence that in our republic, total control is being established over everybody and everything and law enforcers are oriented towards the total suppression of any manifestation of discontent and dissent." There are simply no other explanations for the fact that people are forced to apologize on camera for their words of dissatisfaction with the police, Fatima believes.

"The author was identified and made to voice humiliating apologies. This is absurdity and insanity of the highest degree. He is still lucky that they did not accuse him of extremism, a call to violence, and something like that," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Khadishat, a woman from Grozny.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 15, 2020 at 05:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.