State Duma deputy from Chechnya Shamsail Saraliyev stated that Adam Delimkhanov's words about wanting to cut off the heads of Saidi Yangulbaev's family did not encourage murder.
About this parliamentarian declared “Kommersant”.
“This expression is in Chechen. This is similar to the Russian phrase “Heads will roll”. A little rougher, indeed, but it should not be treated as a direct message. This does not mean that someone will take a cleaver and go to chop heads,” the deputy explained.
Saraliyev added that Delimkhanov was overwhelmed with emotions, and the sharpness of his words was connected with this. “Our people’s wounds have not yet healed after two military campaigns in the Chechen Republic,” the deputy said. Nobody wants international terrorism to come to our region and our families again. And Adam Sultanovich fought and buried his comrades.
On January 20, armed Chechen security forces detained the mother of human rights activist Abubakar Yangulbaev and the wife of federal judge Saydi Yangulbaev, Zarema Musaeva, in Nizhny Novgorod. Ramzan Kadyrov called the Yangulbayev family “accomplices of terrorists”, adding that “this family is waiting for a place either in prison or underground”, and also threatened the judge’s relatives with “destruction”. The Kremlin called Kadyrov’s words “personal opinion.”
After that, State Duma deputy from Chechnya Adam Delimkhanov vowed to cut off the heads of members of the family of Judge Saidi Yangulbaev. Threats also came against those who dare to translate Delimkhanov’s words from Chechen into Russian.
Following Delimkhanov, judge Yangulbaev and other Chechen politicians and security officials promised to “find and cut off the heads” of family members. Among them are First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aslan Iraskhanov, Head of the Russian Guard Department for Chechnya Sharip Delimkhanov, Acting Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Chechnya Alikhan Tsakaev, First Deputy Chairman of the Chechen government Isa Tumkhadzhiev, Head of the Grozny Department of Internal Affairs Deni Aidamirov. Kadyrov’s supporters also demanded that “enemy media” be shut down.
On February 2, an unsanctioned rally against the Yangulbaev family was held in Grozny, which brought together about 400,000 people, including state employees, students, and the religious and political elite of Chechnya. The rally was held in the conditions of coronavirus restrictions, when mass events are prohibited.
The Chechen Rospotrebnadzor could not find the organizers of the “spontaneous” people’s gathering. Although the meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Public Chamber of Chechnya Ismail Denilkhanov, the head of the republican government Magomed Daudov, the Minister for National Policy Akhmed Dudayev, the chairman of the Council of Alims of the North Caucasus Federal District Khozh-Akhmed Kadyrov, Mufti Salakh-Khadzhi Mezhiev.