Chechen residents express concern about recorded beating of man for drug dealing (+video)

A video record, showing a group of unidentified persons beating up a man, accused of drug dealing, has been broadly disseminated over the Chechen segment of the WhatsApp messenger. The residents of the republic, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", fear that power agents, inspired by Ramzan Kadyrov's statements about the need to severely punish drug dealers, may be involved in the beatings.

The video, recorded by a mobile phone, lasts for 49 seconds. A man is beaten up and asked between the blows whether he would go on selling drugs. He swears that he would not, and he had not done that for three months. They open his back; and it is seen that it is all covered with bloody scars from the blows.

Both the victim and his attackers speak the Chechen language.

The users of the WhatsApp, who have commented the video, write that the beating was committed by law enforcers; and the record was released with the aim of intimidation, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The released video is really frightening experience, Adam, a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Chechnya, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"If a man is guilty, he should be really punished. But putting him on his knees, abusing and beating him, moreover, to video and disseminate it is unacceptable. Those, who took part in the incident, should be found and brought to justice. Where is our guarantor of the Constitution, where does he look? If our authorities say that all the Russian laws are in force in our republic, then, they should act in compliance with them, and not to make lynching," he said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.