Video with apologies from relatives of man suspected of Gakaev’s murder posted on Internet

Relatives of a resident of Chechnya, suspected of murdering mullah Abdurakhim Gakaev, asked for forgiveness from relatives of the murdered man.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on January 14, it became known that Abdurakhim Gakaev, a resident of the village of Voskresenovskoye in the Shelkovsky District, was killed in front of his child. A Telegram channel reported that several months earlier, the murder suspect recorded a video message in which he declared his fight against sorcerers and tried to find understanding with Ramzan Kadyrov.

The suspect’s relatives recorded a video message to Abdurakhim Gakaev’s relatives, in which they asked to forgive them, the “ChP Chechnya” public page on Instagram* reports.

“They say the incident was caused by blood feud or some kind of quarrel. There has never been any blood feud or quarrel with the Gakaev family since the time of our ancestors. This guy in the video says (before the murder) in the video that he “brought a gift from his brother …” He doesn’t have a brother to carry out blood feud, and his father died more than 20 years ago ... We were not aware of his plans, and if we had known, we would have stopped him (the murderer),” stated the suspect’s relatives in their video message.

Let us remind you human rights defenders noted that the alleged murderer of Abdurakhim Gakaev looked like a mentally ill person who mistook a far-fetched motive for a guide to action. According to the human rights defenders, the suspect appealed to the authorities of Chechnya with a similar motive of fighting against sorcerers. The crime is connected with the general atmosphere of cruelty in the republic, the human rights defenders point out.

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.