Intervention of authorities formalizes reconciliation of blood feud enemies in Chechnya

When commenting on the news about the forgiveness of blood feud after a road traffic accident in the Sheikh-Mansurovsky District of Grozny, Ruslan Kutaev has pointed out that reconciliation of blood feud enemies after a fatal road traffic accident often occurs under pressure from the authorities, but enmity may continue in such cases.

On July 26, a road traffic accident occurred in the Sheikh-Mansurovsky District of Grozny, in which three persons were killed and several others were injured. According to the “Grozny” TV Channel, one of the drivers exceeded the speed limit and drove into the oncoming lane.

The “ChP Grozny 95” public account on Instagram* posted a video reporting that the blood feud declared after the deaths of three persons in the road traffic accident was forgiven in the village of Gekhi in the Urus-Martanovsky District. At the same time, there is no report about the perpetrator of the road traffic accident being detained or punished in any way. In a comment on the “Caucasian Knot” user jarod.cremin explains the above stating that a foreign car was driven by a relative of a top-ranking law enforcer.

Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, notes that the rapid reconciliation of families after the death of a person as a result of a road traffic accident may be both a consequence of the intervention of the authorities and may also occur without any intervention. “It all depends on to what degree a driver was guilty in the road traffic accident and the death of people, whether he was in a state of alcoholic intoxication, and so on. If people understand that a person is not to blame, but, for example, the brakes of his car failed, they come reconciliation quickly,” said the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations.

When speaking about material compensation, Ruslan Kutaev has noted that according to Islam principles, a perpetrator of a fatal road traffic accident provides for the children of the deceased until they come of age. “But this is not common among Chechens, as their pride does not allow something like that,” emphasized the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations.

Quick reconciliation occurs in almost all such cases, notes human rights defender Oyub Titiev. “As for material compensation, it depends on the well-being of the victim’s relatives. However, there are cases when low-income people refuse compensation from relatives of a perpetrator of a road traffic accident out of pride and unwillingness to profit from death,” emphasized Oyub Titiev.

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.