Abubakar Yangulbaev refuses to treat Delimkhanov's words as metaphor

Shamsail Saraliev, a State Duma MP from Chechnya has treated the words of his colleague Adam Delimkhanov, who threatened to cut off Yangulbaevs' heads and those of the translators of his words into Russian, as a metaphor. The promise to "cut off heads" together with the announcement of blood feuds is a real threat of murder, Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT)*, has objected.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 1, Adam Delimkhanov, the State Duma MP and an adviser to the head of Chechnya, posted a video on the Instagram in which he threatened in the Chechen language the members of the Yangulbaev family with execution and punishment for those who translate his words into Russian. He justified his threats with the blood feud.

The State Duma MP deputy from Chechnya, Shamsail Saraliev, has treated the Delimkhanov's promise to cut off the heads of Yangulbaevs and translators of his words as a metaphor. "It is similar to the Russian phrase 'and heads will roll.' It's a bit rougher, indeed, but it should not be treated as a direct message. This does not mean that someone will take a cleaver and go to chop off heads," The MP Saraliev has explained, whose words were quoted by the "Kommersant" on February 3.

Abubakar Yangulbaev would not agree with Saraliev's treatment of Delimkhanov's words. "I am a Chechen, and I know the Chechen language. From the linguistic viewpoint, this is a direct threat [...] The words 'until we cut off their heads' may be some kind of a metaphor, but if you declare a blood feud and express a threat of murder as a metaphor, it still remains a threat of murder," the Internet outlet "Sota" quotes Abubakar's words on its Telegram channel.

Abubakar Yangulbaev also believes that a criminal case should be initiated against Delimkhanov, since he, "as a person possessing clear administrative resources and power, allows making such statements."

* The “Committee Against Torture” (CaT) was included by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Russia in the register of NCOs-foreign agents in 2015. In this regard, leaders liquidated the organization and created a new legal entity: the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture”, which was also included in the list of foreign agents, and the organization was closed. At present, the “Committee Against Torture” operates as an unregistered public association.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 4, 2022 at 03:53 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.