Chechnya, in the Caucasus region of southern Russia, went through two destructive wars of independence from 1994 to 1996, and again from 1999 to 2000. The overwhelming strength of Russia’s military took its toll on rebel forces and destroyed much of the country.
Ramzan Kadyrov, with the strong backing of Moscow, became President of Chechnya in February 2007. He is described in a January 4, 2007, profile in The Independent as “a loving husband who praises polygamy. He counts Mike Tyson as a friend, and President Putin as his closest confidant…he’s been accused of torture at home and murder abroad…and is the object of a Stalin-style personality cult.”
Bride Stealing an Ancient and Tolerated Custom
The BBC’s Lucy Ash writes (August 9, 2010) that the 33-year-old leader has built “an extensive Muslim infrastructure. It includes one of the world’s biggest mosques, religious schools, and an Islamic university…Kadyrov has a free hand to impose his own version of what he calls ‘traditional Chechen Islam.’ ” That includes a number of policies that discriminate against women, one of which is bride stealing.
According to a report on Russia Today (October 23, 2007), “A young bride abducted in broad daylight is nothing unusual in the Caucasus region.” Many of these kidnappings are even recorded on mobile phones by the abductors to demonstrate their manly prowess.
Women Kidnapped on the Street
On April 26, 2008, Jane Armstrong wrote in the Globe and Mail about Amina Edieva. Her “abductor stalked her like a seasoned predator. He approached the slender, raven-haired 18-year-old student on a Grozny side street, hoisted her off the ground in a tight bear hug, and dragged her into a waiting car.”
Under pressure from her own family she married the man who abducted her even though she said she hated him. That marriage ended in divorce and now Ms. Edieva has few prospects as she is considered tainted in Chechen society.
Lucy Ash tells the story (August 7, 2010) of a woman called Zulikhan: “A month ago, on her way home from college in the Chechen capital Grozny, she was snatched off the street and bundled into a car by a man she barely knew.
“A week later, she was Bogdan Khazhiev’s wife.”
She was immediately taken to Kazakhstan more than 5,000 kilometres away.
Not all Kidnapped Women Submit
Ash writes that Zulikhan seems resigned to her fate, but some women do not accept what’s happened to them and that’s when they visit the Centre for Islamic Medicine. Usually, they are taken there by mothers-in-law who believe their son’s wife to be possessed by some evil spirit.
The Centre opened in February 2009, in Grozny. It says “The main mission of the Centre is to treat people, ridden by jinns and suffering from various mental frustrations, by reading suras and ayats from the Sacred Koran.” The Centre claims to have cured one thousand people.
Lucy Ash witnessed a “treatment” session performed on a woman in her early twenties. An imam was “yelling verses from the Koran into her ear and beating her with a short stick. “ ‘She feels no pain,’ he said. ‘We beat the genie and not the patient.’ ”
However, it appeared to Ash that the woman definitely felt pain.
Sources
“Ramzan Kadyrov: The Warrior King of Chechnya.” Andrew Osborn, The Independent, January 4, 2007.
“ ‘Exorcisms’ Performed on Chechen Stolen Brides.” Lucy Ash, BBC News, August 9, 2010.
“Stolen Brides and Life in Exile from Chechnya.” Lucy Ash, BBC News, August 7, 2010.
“Centre of Islamic Medicine in Grozny Reports Curing a Thousand.” Caucasian Knot, March 6, 2009.
“Rage or Romance?” Jane Armstrong, Globe and Mail, April 26, 2008.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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