Social network users criticize Vismuradov's threats to alcohol consumers

If a resident of Chechnya is caught drunk by law enforcers, he will be arrested and incur "additional punishment", Abuzaid Vismuradov, Chechen Vice-Premier, has threatened. However, Instagram users have pointed out that offenders can only be punished according to the law, treating the official's threats as "lawlessness."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Chechnya in fact enforces a dry law; the use of alcohol is also condemned by the society.

A drunken man detained in Chechnya will be "liquidated," said Abuzaid Vismuradov, the Vice-Premier in charge of the republic's power bloc. "A drunken person should not be released; he must be imprisoned and fined. There is no mercy to the one who had drunk; we'll liquidate him," Mr Vismuradov said in a video translated from the Chechen language by the "Caucasian Knot".

A law enforcer sitting next to the Vice-Premier says that if someone is caught drunken, then "he will be arrested, fined, and deprived [of his driver's] license." Vismuradov has added that such a person will face not only this, but also an "additional punishment".

Social network commentators have indicated that Vismuradov was talking about punishments that were not provided for by law. "You have no right to punish additionally; there's only one law," wrote the user dusha__69__. "It's lawlessness," the user baysangur_0195 has commented on Vismuradov's words. "What he says about additional punishments means that there are no laws for him," the user amir_aushev06 has summed up.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 6, 2021 at 09:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.