07 August 2018, 10:57
Yusup Temirkhanov's heroization in Chechnya is alarming signal to Russian authorities
Making hero of Yusup Temirkhanov is an alarming signal, which shows the republic residents' readiness to support the "avengers", the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.
Yusup Temirkhanov died in the colony, where he served his sentence for killing Yuri Budanov. Tens of thousands came to his funeral in the village of Geldagan in Chechnya.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has stated Temirkhanov's non-involvement in Budanov's killing and announced him a national hero. However, residents of Chechnya have treated the authorities' visit of Temirkhanov's mourning events as a promotion action.
According to Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, the Director of the Centre for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, the "heroization" of Temirkhanov has to do with "a feeling of profound injustice and impossibility to protect innocent victims."
"Temirkhanov is a hero precisely because he took revenge, killed the man, who had deadly insulted the nation," Ms Sokiryanskaya have stated. In Chechnya, "from time immemorial," blood feuds have been practiced, she has added.
The heroization of Temirkhanov was the result of "hatred for war criminals," Alexander Cherkasov, the chairman of the board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", believes.
However, he refused to share the opinion that the murder of Budanov could be regarded as a blood feud, "because Temirkhanov himself had not suffered from Budanov."
Irina Starodubrovskaya, the head of the direction "Political economy and regional development" at the Yegor Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, also did not associate the heroization of Temirkhanov with the custom of blood feud, since "he was not familiar with the murdered girl at all."
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 3, 2018 at 06:50 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Oleg Krasnov Source: CK correspondent
