Young man's apologies show viability of clannish honour ideas in Chechnya

A video clip of Marat Tsumaev's apologies is in line with public repentance for insulting women, traditional for the Chechen society, said Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations. Lydia Kurbanova, a sociologist, and Svetlana Gannushkina, a rights defender, have suggested that the initiators of Tsumaev's apologies had supported the trend launched by the Chechen authorities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Instagram users refused to accept the apologies of Marat Tsumaev, a resident of Chechnya, for his insulting posts on the Telegram. The young man was "called to respond" by local residents themselves, the administrators of Chechen publics have emphasized.

Tsumaev's apologies cannot be viewed as part of the general trend of forced public apologies, Ruslan Kutaev has noted.

"Earlier, people apologized for the justified criticism of the Chechen leadership – in fact, for the truth. But Tsumaev had publicly defamed the honour of several women," he said, adding that public repentances are traditional for Chechen society.

Chechen authorities have distorted the long-standing tradition of public repentance, Lydia Kurbanova, a sociologist, believes. At the same time, she has suggested that forcing Tsumaev to publicly apologize might be in support of the trend launched by the authorities.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, also has not ruled out that the practice of the authorities had affected Tsumaev's compulsion to apologize.