Malizaev's brother publicly apologizes for blogger's criticism of Chechen authorities

A young man who introduced himself as a brother of Minkail Malizaev, a blogger living in Europe and criticizing the Chechen authorities, recorded a video message with apologizes for the blogger.

In the evening on July 9, the video message with the young man's apologies was posted on several Chechen public accounts on Instagram. The video entitled "An Appeal to Minkail Malizaev from his brother" shows a young man sitting on a sofa. After a greeting in the Chechen language, the young man says that no one ever threatened Minkail Malizaev.

"Minkail left the republic in 2012. He said that he was leaving to treat his son. Nobody persecuted him, and nobody told him anything unpleasant. Enemies of our people and our faith are using him there, because they know that he doesn't use his brain and can be easily controlled. Today, I want to apologize to our people for the Minkail's vain actions and talks," said the young man on the video as translated from the Chechen language by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The young man also calls on Minkail Malizaev to return home to "take care of the family members and, in particularly, of the mother."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 10, 2020 at 01:42 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.