Samuel Patys Killer Buried – NRK Urix – Foreign News & Documentaries

On Monday this week, a video began circulating on social media in Russia showing a large group of men carrying a coffin through a snow-covered landscape.

It was soon established that the photos were taken in the small Chechen village of Shalazhi, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains in Chechnya.

In the coffin lay Abdullakh Anzorov, the 18-year-old who shocked the world by slitting the throat of French teacher Samuel Paty in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on October 16.

Chechens will be buried in their places of origin

Paty had taught about freedom of expression, including showing the controversial cartoons published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Anzorov, who has lived most of his life outside Chechnya, wanted to punish Paty because he believed that Paty had desecrated the honor of the Prophet. Anzorov was shot by police shortly after the murder.

According to the Russian online newspaper Kavkazckij Uzel, Anzorov’s family had received the 18-year-old boy’s remains before the weekend. .

Chechens have a strong tradition of burying their dead in the town where they come from, no matter where in the world they live. Therefore, Abdullakh Anzorov’s remains were sent to Russia through Turkey.

Town Rapporteur: He’s a hero.

What has attracted attention is that the Chechen authorities allowed the funeral to be held in public.

– For the entire Islamic world, he is a hero. In France and Europe they have their “blue heroes.” But these are not heroes here, said the head of the Shalazi village office, Salman Magamedov, according to the Podjom website.

He also said that he was present at the funeral and expressed his condolences to his relatives.

The police are said to have closed access to Shalazji, and only people with connections to the village can go there in connection with the funeral itself. At least a hundred people attended the ceremony.

The Russian authorities have previously refused to hand over the remains of people who have committed terrorist acts to the family. Instead, they are buried in an unknown location. The same goes for former Chechen rebel leader and President Aslan Maskhadov, who was assassinated in 2004.

Maskhadov’s family, who live partly in Norway, have tried several times to find out what happened to the body of the assassinated former president.

Also covered by state television

Even more surprising was that the funeral was covered by the republic’s state television channel, which is under the control of the autocratic president, Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Russian authorities fought two bloody wars in the 1990s and up to 2000 against Chechen separatists, who wanted to separate the republic from Russia. Since 2000, Chechnya is ruled by the Kadyrov family, who have accepted that the republic is ruled by Moscow, against a high degree of internal autonomy.

After Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated in an assassination attempt in 2004, his son Ramzan has been the strongman of the republic.

In October, Kadyrov was quick to condemn what Anzorov had done. But he has since turned his attention to what he believes to be the French authorities and, in particular, the anti-Islamic policies of President Emmanuel Macron.

After the beheading in Paris and the terrorist attack in Nice, Macron a few days later called for a relentless fight against what he calls extreme Islam. He has also defended freedom of expression, including the right to publish and display drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Macron asks teachers to be brave after beheading

There have also been large demonstrations in the past, including in 2015, organized by the Chechen authorities, against the permission of the French authorities to publish drawings of the Prophet.

A fully conscious action

– I think that what has happened is a well calculated action on the part of Ramzan Kadyrov. This is what Oleg Orlov says, who since 1990 has worked with human rights in Chechnya, often plagued by conflict.

– Kadyrov wants to create an image in Europe of Chechens as very dangerous people who are better to get rid of. At the same time, he wants the hundreds of thousands of Chechens living in exile to return to Chechnya itself, Oleg Orlov tells NRK.

– There are many Chechens in exile who are active on social media with very critical opinions about the Kadyrov government. Today, therefore, it is a main task for him to stop them, and this can happen, among other things, by making it difficult for them to work freely in Europe, says Orlov.

The French wonder who has approved

That the terrorist received such a funeral has not gone unnoticed in France. Several newspapers report that the Chechen was fired as a hero.

Such an event would not have been possible without the approval of the president of the Russian Chechen Republic, writes Le Monde. The newspaper notes that according to Russian law, it is forbidden to give the remains of terrorists to the family.

In France, attempts are made to organize all funerals as discreetly as possible, the newspaper continues. The goal is to prevent the tomb from becoming a pilgrimage site for people who support the terrorist. After the attacks in Paris in 2015, the dead terrorists received anonymous cemeteries.

According to the newspaper, it is unclear who decided that Anzorov’s remains were extradited from France. It is also unclear who paid for the transportation.

The funeral in Chechnya takes place the same week the French government presents a proposal for a new law. It will establish a stricter framework for Islamic extremism.

Emphasize the right of teachers to teach

– I have taken as a starting point the murder of Samuel Paty, said Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti when presenting the legal aspects of the new bill.

It is 115 years since France adopted its clear distinction between state and religion. The law was first presented as the “law of separatism” to emphasize this distinction. It is now known as “the law that strengthens republican values.”

The bill contains many restrictions. Among other things, requirements should be established for those who want their children to be homeschooled.

– It should not be easier to open a school than a bar, said the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, speaking of this requirement.

Freedom of expression is also emphasized.

Putin spokesman: Anzorov is a terrorist

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding Abdullakh Anzorov’s funeral. He stressed that what Anzorov had done was totally unacceptable and an act of pure terrorism.

However, Oleg Orlov of the human rights organization Memorial does not believe that the Russian authorities will take any action against Ramzan Kadyrov.

– This is another example of double standards in Russia, Orlov tells NRK. Some people can be punished just for sharing a post that tries to explain why people have committed terrorist acts, without taking a position on it, he says.

Journalist convicted of defending terrorism in Russia

North Caucasus: Russia’s troubled southern flank