Chechen law enforcer's threats to smokers raise doubts of legality thereof

Smokers of tobacco in Chechnya cannot be legally brought to community works and public rebukes, since this habit is not a crime, Caucasian scholars and lawyers believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 13, a video appeared in a social network, in which a police boss stated that residents of Chechnya who smoke cigarettes should be attracted to public works. By comparing smokers to drug addicts and terrorists, he threatened them with public condemnation and forced cleaning of mosques.

In Chechnya, there is no law that completely prohibits smoking; therefore, only smoking in certain places, for example, near schools, will be a violation, the lawyer, Evgeny Chernousov, has stated. Conducting preventive talks with smokers would be illegal, he said.

The police boss' statements indicate the fact that law enforcers are imitating the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who applies the practice of public rebukes to any actions that he considers inconsistent with the Chechen ethics, Ruslan Kutaev, the President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, believes. According to Chechen traditions, smoking is not condemned, but Adats (local customary practices and traditions) "welcome quitting smoking and a healthy lifestyle."