At the end of December, Ramzan Kadyrov held a meeting with Chechen security forces, at which he announced the permissibility of punishing relatives of criminals who had escaped from law enforcement agencies.
In a post about the event, the head of Chechnya wrote that the meeting was dedicated to issues of public safety during the holidays. At the same time, in the publication, Kadyrov also mentioned that “on the platforms of a number of social networks administered from abroad, youth are being encouraged to commit serious crimes.”
According to the head of Chechnya, the consequences of such crimes should also affect the relatives of the person who violated the law. “Close relatives should know what a representative of their family is doing and be responsible for him, which is what Chechen adats have been teaching us for centuries,” says the publication of the head of the republic.
The Chechen opposition telegram channel 1ADAT noted that at the meeting itself, Kadyrov spoke in Chechen, speaking harshly and hinting at a renewal of blood feud. The Chechen human rights association “Vayfond” reported the same.
The “Agency” also published a translation of a fragment from Kadyrov’s speech: “If we don’t find him [the criminal], we won’t look for him, we will find his family. It has always been with us, and with our fathers, if the culprit was not found, revenge was announced on his brother, father. We will take revenge on them for their relative.” The head of Chechnya also added that a family’s rejection of a relative who committed a crime will not free them from blood feud.
This is not the first such statement by Ramzan Kadyrov. Thus, in October 2023, the head of Chechnya, commenting on the pogrom at the Makhachkala airport, “authorized” the security forces to shoot at the protesters if similar unrest began in the republic. In August, Kadyrov’s son Adam also beat Nikita Zhuravel, a defendant in the case of burning the Koran, who was in a pre-trial detention center. According to Kadyrov Sr., his son “showed heroism” and “did everything right.”