Chechen blood feudists stop 25-year-long enmity under authorities' pressure

The Chechen authorities have initiated a reconciliation of two families, who were in blood feud for 25 years.

A report of the "Grozny" TV Channel told that 25 years ago a man from the Gakaev family in a quarrel killed a member of the Iderbaev family in the village of Tevzan, Vedeno District. It is especially noted that a request for reconciliation of the blood feudists was expressed by local residents during the direct communication line with the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in 2019.

Arbi Djafarov, Qadi of the Vedeno District, has announced, on behalf of the victims, that they agreed to reconciliation. After that, "the guilty man has personally asked for forgiveness from the relatives of the deceased."

The reconciliation of blood feudists depends on many factors and can take decades, the residents of Chechnya, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, have noted.

"If the killing was deliberate, then there will be no forgiveness at all, or it will take years and even decades," Lechi said.

Residents of the republic have noted that the ceremony of blood feudists' reconciliation has greatly simplified over the past decade.

"My grandfather told me that hundreds of people gathered and prayed for forgiveness of the blood feudist ... After the rite of forgiveness, the eldest member of the family of the person killed by him shaved the killer's head, and the latter had to spent the night in that family," Yakhya said.

Alexei Malashenko, the head of scientific studies at the "Dialogue of Civilizations" Institute, has treated the reconciliation decision of the blood feud as a positive fact.

"However, it's the 21st century now! And people are still finding out who is a blood feudist to whom! It turns out that Chechnya doesn't fit into the framework of a modern state," Mr Malashenko has added.

Reconciliation often happens by force, if a state servant is involved, Ruslan Kutaev, President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, believes.

"Chechens are so conservative that sometimes they kill an innocent person. For example, relatives can take revenge not on the killer himself, but on his children," Mr Kutaev has noted.

Chechen authorities are campaigning for reconciliation of blood feudists; and Kadyrov and his entourage need this aiming to "raise the authority of those in power, said Mikhail Roschin, an Orientalist.