Repentance

Last week, two writers and a bard were stolen in Chechnya per day

At the beginning of this week, it became known about the loss of two Chechen writers, the day before, the Chechen bard Hussein Betelgeriev was stolen from the house in Grozny. Both writers, however, were already found on Tuesday - a video appeared on Ramzan Kadyrov’s Instagram, which shows how Rizwan Ibragimov and Abubakar Didiev stand at Kadyrov’s meeting with the scientific intelligentsia of the republic. Nothing is known about Betelgeriev’s whereabouts.

"Participants in the meeting with concern said that individual pseudo -scientists have been publishing brochures and books that distort the history of Islam, information about the Chechen people from ancient times to the present day. First of all, they attributed to them Rizvan Ibrahimov and Abubakar Didyev, which published the many thousandth circulation of the books, actually pursuing the purpose to cause religion and cause religion. Interethnic hostility. The video shows that both writers - Ibrahimov and Didiev - are standing aside, taking a look until the discussion of their books is discussed in the room of Kadyrov’s residence.

The abduction of both is known: so, according to the "Caucasian Knot ", Ibragimov and Didiev, employees of law enforcement agencies took from their houses. It happened on April 1. “I can’t say that this was a kidnapping. They were taken by the security forces, but without compiling any detention protocols,” says a source of the publication.

On the night of April 5 to 6, Facebook by Ibragimov appeared a record made, as claimed, by the administrator of the site Nohchidu.com , which the writer leads. “Nobody abducted me, but they kept it out of fear that I could hide. Today there were conversations with the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, after which we and Abubakar Didiev were released,” the appeal says. This record was later deleted.

On Nohchidu.com , Ibragimov posts his works - in particular, that repressions against the Crimean Tatars are arranged in order to form a certain “Jewish Republic” in the Crimea. "Jews are trying to let down the historical base to justify the claims that they carefully voiced to the original territory of the Nakhsky ethnic group ," this is another quote from the Ibrahimov website, which is in a sense a colleague of Ramzan Kadyrov - they are both at the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences .

Chechen security officials thus promote the ideas of Rezwan Ibragimov

Human rights activist, chairman of the Interregional Organization "Committee for Prevention of torture" Igor Kalyapin believes that measures such as detention can only increase the popularity of the works of Ibragimov and Didiev.

- I personally, as a person, as a human rights activist, believe that any ideas can be discussed publicly, any, including extremist. And a public discussion of extremist ideas is just the most effective way to confront these ideas. But the person’s premises for saying these ideas in Zindan, especially if the police department acts as a Zindan, is actually the propaganda of these ideas. The Chechen security forces in this way propagate the ideas of Rezwan Ibragimov. I have no doubt that now the remnants of his books are grabbed in all stores.

I perfectly understand the motives of such actions, I saw his books. There are many nonsense in the Chechen Republic. I read a lot of things there, and there are quite a lot of similar fairy tales, softly, say, with a nationalist shower. Yes, they are doubtful from the point of view of anti -extremist legislation and so on, I understand all this. But I do not understand why it was impossible to act legally. Why it was impossible to present to the same Reswan Ibragimov to a prosecutor’s warning about the inadmissibility of a violation of such and such articles of the Criminal Code, and maybe there is more specifically to paint what the prosecutor's office seen such violations. I believe that it would be quite legal. This is not some kind of teenager-extremist who arranges secret gatherings and so on. This person positions himself as a historian, they wrote to me that he is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

- Like Kadyrov, by the way.

- Yes. That is, his Kadyrov, so to speak, is the older brother in a scientific rank. Well, they would, in the end, gathered historians, they would condemn him there, dismantled this publication of him. That is, these are measures that would be quite normal, natural and legal. The police department is still not Zindan, and we are not in the combat zone. What are these strange methods of response? I absolutely do not want to say any compliments to these scientific works of Ibragimov, in my opinion, they can not stand any criticism. But again, we cannot say whether it is extremism or not, experts can say it. And the prosecutor can react to this, in extreme cases, the investigator, if they see in this a reason to initiate a criminal case.

Someone really likes the idea of using law enforcement agencies as an instrument of reprisal

- Is it possible to assume what kind of pressure on him was?

- I think that fantasizing this topic is not my task. Probably, if he was kept five days in the cell, then at least he was uncomfortable there. This is if they just kept him there. And what else could be there - I do not know, it must be asked. Again, turn - ask.

-There are many cases of such reprimands for criticism by Ramzan Kadyrov, for some careless statements. But, in my opinion, this is the first case of reprimands for scientific or pseudoscientific such statements.

- Well, how to say ... We have Ruslan Kutaev for the third year sitting for a scientific conference.

- They are difficult to compare, of course, Kutaev and Ibragimov ...

- Difficult, but nevertheless. I compare the reaction, in both cases, it was precisely for the statement of some views, ideas were followed by repression, and using a law enforcement system. Apparently, someone really likes the idea of using law enforcement agencies, the police as a tool for reprisals. This cannot be called repression, because the word "repression" still means compliance with a certain established procedure. There is no procedure at all, here the police department was used as Zindan. I believe that the Ministry of Internal Affairs should react, conduct an audit, and the head of the police department, as well as the duty officer on duty, which was there at that time, must be fired, at least so that their spirit is not in the police! - said in an interview with Radio Liberty, human rights activist Igor Kalyapin .

The observer of Novaya Gazeta Elena Milashin connects the detention of Ibragimov and Didiev with their recent trip to Iran and their criticism of influential clergy in the republic.

- In my opinion, and according to many sources, including colleagues in Didiev and Ibragimov, this is primarily due to their trip to Iran. They released a lecture that affects serious and scrupulous issues on religion and dispositions in Chechnya. In particular, he compares Shiism and Sunnism as he is practiced in Chechnya, criticizes the Kunta-Haji cult, this is a very famous Chechen Ustaz (religious teacher), his Murida is Ramzan Kadyrov, this is a cult, which is not denied in Chechnya and is not questioned in any way, it is very dangerous to do it, because the reprisal should always be in one form or another. In addition, Ibragimov criticized the employees of the Chechen mufti , local clergy in general, because a huge number of claims have really accumulated to them. Ibragimov also raised a question about temporary marriages when Chechen men take in the second, third, fourth wives of girls, and then they were returned to parents. In general, this is a common, unfortunately, practice, and Ibragimov criticized it. I think that there were a lot of other sharp moments in the performance, and this, of course, is connected with its illegal detention. He, in fact, on his Facebook directly wrote where he spent four days since the detention - in the Oktyabrsky police department of the Grozny. This is illegal detention, illegal imprisonment, if you speak the language of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And I think this is due precisely to his performance.

To the work of Ibragimov - and it is quite controversial, here I can’t say anything - there were repeatedly claims. But, for example, now everyone refers to the plot, which was in 2013 on the Grozny television channel, there is also Dukvha Abdurahmanov (the former head of the Chechnya parliament. - RS) appears, he died last summer, but then Ibragimov was also very criticized for his books, they really contain a number of things that can be calculated by the intelligence distress. This was in 2014, and then no repression against Ibragimov then followed.

- As for Hussein Betelgeriev?

- Perhaps claims arose to Betelgeriev about his very clear position in the Meanchka. He is a supporter of Ichkeria in an ideal form in which this idea began in the 90s, and he never hid his views. I was not able to clearly conduct evidence, but his views could be the reason for his dismissal from Grozny University, where he headed the department. He is a very good specialist, a philologist, taught the French language and teaches, I hope, and nevertheless, he was forced to quit. I think that this is a different story, it is not directly connected with Didiev and Ibragimov, but this is from the same series of public humiliations. At first, the abduction, and in the case of Betelgeriev, we can talk about the abduction - there is a statement, and the investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Chechnya was started on the fact of the abduction of Betelgeriev. Accordingly, the abduction, illegal retention, coercion of people to self -breeding. They are forced to say that they said something wrong, they were not in themselves, they repent, they understand that they did something, although they simply express their point of view. But, apparently, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, in general, any freedom in Chechnya is not welcome. And I think that this is what all these humiliations, the practice of public humiliations of people who did not please the Chechen leadership and his environment are connected with this.

- It is still unknown where Betelgeria is located?

- Today on Facebook, in one of the posts dedicated to the liberation of Ibragimov and Didiev, in the comments the user of Facebook, the Chechen activist Hed Saratov said that they met Beteleriev’s relatives with a lawyer, they know about where he is, and that they would be released soon after they showed it on television as well as show Ibragimova and Didiev, that is, repenting. As I understand it, there is work there, so that this person admits that he does not think and be mistaken.

- Previously, it was known that they were delayed like this, publicly humiliated people who criticized the regime of Ramzan Kadyrov, and now they illegally hold publicists, bards ...

- Well, in general, raids or cleaning, threats to the Chechen intelligentsia have been going on for a long time. Over the past two years, they have simply gained a lot of momentum. If you look at the composition of the State Institute, there were a lot of employees to quit, including because of their views. I just know people and know the scale of this phenomenon. This trend has long been in Chechnya, it is very tough, and people are controlled by absolutely all the parameters. In Chechnya, those freedoms that are still in Russia are no longer present, ”said Elena Milashina , a columnist for Novaya Gazeta.