11 September 2020, 11:30
Adat experts find no excuses for bullying Chechen Tepsurkaev
The torture of Salman Tepsurkaev has nothing to do with Chechen Adats (traditions), Sergey Arutyunov, a historian, believes. Tepsurkayev's offenders must definitely be punished, Aset Malsagova, a human rights defender, is sure.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the video, in which a naked man sits on a bottle, explaining that this was his punishment for cooperating with the oppositional 1ADAT Telegram Channel, caused broad resonance in Chechnya.
Lawyers of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" have treated the incident captured by the video as humiliation and torture. Rights defenders blame Chechen authorities for the incident.
Tepsurkaev had to choose between death and shame, says Sergey Arutyunov, a historian. Chechen Adats provide for punishment in the form of public shame, but not in the form of sitting on a bottle, he has explained.
Chechens have no Adats that prescribe humiliation of a person, but there are a number of principles according to which a person should be punished for a particular offence, Aset Malsagova, a Chechen human rights defender, has added.
She has noted that in general, Adats do not regulate sexual violence, she said. "According to our ancestors' traditions, a man was unambiguously deprived of his life for sexual violence. If we talk about insulting a woman, then, according to Chechen traditions, they took off his pants and drove him through the village. This was the highest punishment," Ms Malsagova has concluded.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 11, 2020 at 00:41 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Oleg Krasnov Source: CK correspondent
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