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| Chechen Leader Scolds WhatsApp Users for Spreading ‘Rumors’ About Official’s Wedding | Chechen Leader Scolds WhatsApp Users for Spreading ‘Rumors’ About Official’s Wedding |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Chechnya’s Instagram-addicted leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, sternly advised Chechen men to bar their wives from using another popular messaging service, WhatsApp, in a lecture broadcast this week on state television. | Chechnya’s Instagram-addicted leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov, sternly advised Chechen men to bar their wives from using another popular messaging service, WhatsApp, in a lecture broadcast this week on state television. |
| “Behave like Chechens,” said the former warlord chosen a decade ago by President Vladimir Putin to rule the southern Russian republic. “Honor of the family is the most important thing. Don’t write such things anymore. You, men, keep your women far away from WhatsApp!” | “Behave like Chechens,” said the former warlord chosen a decade ago by President Vladimir Putin to rule the southern Russian republic. “Honor of the family is the most important thing. Don’t write such things anymore. You, men, keep your women far away from WhatsApp!” |
| The suggestion came with a clear warning that comments shared on the service are being monitored by the authorities, since Mr. Kadyrov was addressing a group of citizens accused of using WhatsApp to comment on the marriage of a local police chief to a teenage girl at least three decades his junior. | The suggestion came with a clear warning that comments shared on the service are being monitored by the authorities, since Mr. Kadyrov was addressing a group of citizens accused of using WhatsApp to comment on the marriage of a local police chief to a teenage girl at least three decades his junior. |
| The wedding, which took place on Saturday, was widely discussed in the region and across Russia after a report last month that the 17-year-old bride, Kheda Goylabiyeva, had been coerced into marriage with threats to her family by the officer, Nazhud Guchigov, who has variously been described as 47 or 57 years old. | The wedding, which took place on Saturday, was widely discussed in the region and across Russia after a report last month that the 17-year-old bride, Kheda Goylabiyeva, had been coerced into marriage with threats to her family by the officer, Nazhud Guchigov, who has variously been described as 47 or 57 years old. |
| Elena Milashina of Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper that brought national attention to the match, also reported that Mr. Guchigov had admitted to her that he was already married. According to Ms. Milashina, before turning to her, the girl’s friends tried to appeal directly to Mr. Kadyrov through his Instagram page, but their comments were erased. | Elena Milashina of Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper that brought national attention to the match, also reported that Mr. Guchigov had admitted to her that he was already married. According to Ms. Milashina, before turning to her, the girl’s friends tried to appeal directly to Mr. Kadyrov through his Instagram page, but their comments were erased. |
| Two days after the report was published, the Chechen leader endorsed the marriage publicly, telling Novaya Gazeta: “I personally sent people to find out if she agrees to this or not! And her mother said that the girl agrees! And the grandfather on the father’s side has given his permission! And the issue has been resolved!” | Two days after the report was published, the Chechen leader endorsed the marriage publicly, telling Novaya Gazeta: “I personally sent people to find out if she agrees to this or not! And her mother said that the girl agrees! And the grandfather on the father’s side has given his permission! And the issue has been resolved!” |
| Last Friday on the eve of the wedding, Mr. Kadyrov posted an image of the said-to-be happy couple on Instagram with a caption that compared interest in their marriage to “the wedding of the century,” between Prince William and Kate Middleton. | Last Friday on the eve of the wedding, Mr. Kadyrov posted an image of the said-to-be happy couple on Instagram with a caption that compared interest in their marriage to “the wedding of the century,” between Prince William and Kate Middleton. |
| After the festivities, Mr. Kadyrov shared video of the ceremony, at which the bride was given away by his own chief of staff, and of himself dancing at the reception. | After the festivities, Mr. Kadyrov shared video of the ceremony, at which the bride was given away by his own chief of staff, and of himself dancing at the reception. |
| In the televised scolding administered on Monday, as BBC News reported, Mr. Kadyrov also encouraged Chechen husbands to go further, if necessary, to keep their wives under control. “Lock them in, do not let them go out, then they will not post anything,” he said. | In the televised scolding administered on Monday, as BBC News reported, Mr. Kadyrov also encouraged Chechen husbands to go further, if necessary, to keep their wives under control. “Lock them in, do not let them go out, then they will not post anything,” he said. |
| Varvara Pakhomenko of the International Crisis Group told Tom Parfitt, The Telegraph’s Moscow correspondent,: “This has become a common sight on Chechen television: Ramzan Kadyrov, in the presence of officials, reprimands residents of the republic — it could be bureaucrats, it could be women who wear skirts that are too short or women who went to a cafe without their husbands, people who were detained for taking drugs.” | |
| She added, “It’s shown in public on television in order that people understand there can be no dissenting opinions about Kadyrov’s decision to support the wedding.” | She added, “It’s shown in public on television in order that people understand there can be no dissenting opinions about Kadyrov’s decision to support the wedding.” |
| Over the weekend, Mr. Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, also used his Instagram account to comment on the sentencing of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Chechen-American found guilty of killing three people and wounding more than 250 in the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013. | |
| Under a photo of the bomber, the Chechen leader described him as a scapegoat and suggested that American intelligence services had been involved in the attack. |