"Novaya Gazeta": Anzorov buried in Chechnya with authorities' approval

Chechen authorities have made a national hero out of Abdulak (Abdulla) Anzorov, and facilitated the return of his body to his homeland for burial. This is the conclusion of Elena Milashina in her material published by the "Novaya Gazeta".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 16, in a Paris suburb, Samuel Paty, a teacher of history and geography, was beheaded. Prior to that, at a lesson on freedom of speech, he showed caricatures of Prophet Muhammad from the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine to his pupils. The assassin turned out to be a Russian citizen of Chechen origin, an 18-year-old Abdulak Anzorov, who had been granted refugee status in France. He was shot dead at detention. Abdulak Anzorov was buried in the village of Shalazhi, Urus-Martan District; information about this appeared on December 6. At the time of the funeral, the entrance to the village was blocked.

The decision to bury Abdulak Anzorov in his historical homeland was made with the approval of the Chechen authorities, who presented him as a "national hero," but still could not allow this funeral to turn into a spontaneous flash mob of the republic's scale, as it happened in August 2018 in the village of Geldagan, when Yusup Temirkhanov, convicted of killing Colonel Yuri Budanov, was buried, believes Elena Milashina, the author of the article "Will French teacher's killer become Chechnya's national hero?" published on the "Novaya Gazeta" website on December 7.

A few days before the funeral, the "Baza" Telegram channel, and then other federal media spread information about the renaming of one of the streets in Shalazhi in honour of Anzorov. "Photos with plaques 'Abdulla Anzorov Street' were published. Later, official Chechen media reported that these photos were made by using the Photoshop software. However, only the photos turned out to be fakes. All this time, the republic was really getting ready for 'Abdulla Anzorov's funeral and talks about renaming one of the streets in his honour were held," Elena Milashina writes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 7, 2020 at 09:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.