Report from Ingushetia confirms survival of bride abduction custom

The Ingush deputy has refuted the information that he had abducted his bride. Such cases are fewer and fewer in Ingushetia; the parties usually agree on them, a lawyer and a sociologist assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 1, the "Interfax" reported citing its source that in the Malgobek District, an Ingush MP abducted a woman in order to marry her. Then, the "Interfax" specified that the incident was settled; the wedding ceremony was scheduled for May 5; and the abductor will have to pay a fine of 200,000 roubles.

"The marriage ceremony has been performed according to Islamic traditions," explained Magomed Darsigov, an MP of the Ingush National Assembly (Parliament).

In Ingushetia, bride abductions have been extremely rare lately; they mostly occur by a mutual agreement of the bride and the groom, since under the traditional matchmaking, the marriage is long and costs a very substantial sum of money, said Akhmed Kostoev, an advocate.

In general, after the introduction of heavy fines for bride abduction in Ingushetia and Chechnya, the number of such cases has reduced greatly, said Irina Kosterina, the coordinator of the "Gender Democracy" programme of the "Heinrich Böll Foundation".

According to her story, there are real girl abductions, but they are very rare, because a conflict in this case may turn into blood feud.