Dagestani journalists treat "honour killings" as remnants of the patriarchal system

A part of the society in Dagestan perceives "honour killings" with understanding, although there is no justification for such crimes, journalists have noted.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on January 17, a resident of Dagestan was sentenced to 9.5 years in colony for killing his half-sister. He has stated that the girl had failed to obey him, left for Makhachkala and did not want to get married. However, some Instagram users have supported the convict. Dagestani scholars have condemned the practice of "honour killings," saying that they have nothing to do with Islam.

Honour killings were committed also under the Soviet regime, but now they are causing more resonance due to publications on the Internet, Milrad Fatullaev, the editor-in-chief of the RIA "Derbent", believes. According to his version, such executions are supported mainly by rural residents possessing patriarchal viewpoints.

Fatullaev suggests that the practice of "honour killings" is unlikely to stop. However, he has noted that such killings should not be treated as “honour trials”, since they are “killings based on obscurantism and ignorance.”

Any “honour killing” is an extraordinary event; there can be no justification thereof either from the viewpoint of the secular law or from the viewpoint of Islam, said Gadjimurad Sagitov, the editor-in-chief of the “Novoye Delo” newspaper.

Any murder itself is an extraordinary event, but a killing of a woman in Northern Caucasus, especially for reasons of protecting the "family honour" or under other motives aimed at defending moral values, gives additional resonance to such events, Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Chernovik" (Draft) weekly, believes.