TV story with repentance of fortuneteller's son triggers indignation in Chechnya

On air of the republic's TV channel, an elderly woman from Gudermes, has repented of providing occult services, and her adult son – of not keep track of her mother. Residents of Chechnya found the son's public repentance excessive.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after in July, the Chechen authorities intensified the persecution of people who provided occult services; the "Grozny" TV Channel showed at least eight stories in which local residents repented of their engagement in fortunetelling.

The repentance story of Rashana Djabrailova, a 70-year-old resident of Gudermes, was shown in the nightly news programme of the "Grozny" TV Channel on March 28; and at night on March 30, it was posted on the YouTube channel of the TV Company under the heading "Policemen detain Gudermes resident".

Rashana Djabrailova herself assured that she would no longer engage in fortunetelling.

The woman has a large family and adult children, but they could not "save their mother" from fortunetelling, the TV authors have emphasized. "I am disgraced. An elderly woman was deceived; it happens, they turn around her and are deceiving. It happened, I swear by the Almighty, I am not happy about it," Magomed-Emin, Rashana's son, repented in the TV story.

Some residents of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, although they support the fight against sorcerers and fortunetellers, they treat any public humiliation of their relatives as unacceptable. "Sorcerers and fortunetellers should be punished. [...] But they should not have attracted their relatives to such public acts of humiliation," Lechi, one of NGO activists, said, in particular.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 30, 2020 at 09:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.