Chechen authorities deny housing to critics of hostel inspections

The video clip with a woman, who, according to the author of the video, fainted when a hostel in Grozny was inspected, irritated Ramzan Kadyrov. For the "unethical behaviour" it was decided not to provide new housing to those who filmed and posted the video, a source from the city Mayoralty has stressed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at a meeting in Grozny held on October 15, Ramzan Kadyrov demanded from officials to inspect the dormitories of the Chechen capital and exclude from the lists of those in need of housing the people who do not have the right to live in dormitories. The leader of Chechnya said that out of 20,000 people who waited for housing in Grozny, 19,800 were fraudsters who wanted to get apartments for free. On the other day, inspections had been launched in the dormitories of Grozny.

On October 23, the "Grozny” TV Channel showed a report in  its news programme about the above clip criticizing inspections of hostels, in which several people were trying to bring the fainted elderly woman to consciousness.

The author of the video clip, shown on the TV Channel and available on its website, asserts that the woman was "driven" to that condition. "You see, the woman felt bad and fainted. They came and drove her into that," the voice-over says.

The author of the report on the "Grozny" TV Channel stressed that "in fact, the commission came to the hostel to study the tenants' living conditions and, if necessary, to help them; while the woman had health problems and had another attack.

On October 23, the incident that took place at a Grozny hostel was commented on by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the republic, at his meeting with the top bosses of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). "This woman has health problems. She fell down ... And those who filmed her began shouting: 'Look, they are killing people!' We're building a house for the woman who cries it; and she knows it. I told her yesterday that we won't build her house. Let her do it herself ... We'll take her home and hand over to her relatives; let her build it herself. With this video clip, she disgraced the Chechen woman to the whole world," the speech of the Chechen leader in the TV programme was translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In his turn, Ibragim Bursagov, the First Vice-Mayor of Grozny, has stated, in his interview with a reporter of the TV Channel, that "for the unethical behaviour, it was decided not to allocate apartments and not to build houses" to those who filmed the above video.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 24, 2018 at 01:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.