A resident of Chechnya’s Urus-Martan District has publicly apologised to the Chechen people and the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, for disseminating ‘untruthful information’ about the detention of her husband. According to the authorities, the woman has fully admitted her guilt and asked for forgiveness.

The apology was broadcast on a local TV channel on 1 May. The young Chechen woman, dressed in traditional Muslim clothing, said that she was wrong to accuse the security forces of kidnapping her husband. She promised not to repeat such ‘rash actions’. In her speech, the woman emphasised that she was making her statement on her own initiative, and that nobody was forcing her to do so.

In late April, the woman released an audio message through an online messenger addressed to Kadyrov. In it, she asks him to influence the security services, which she said had been holding her husband for two months, demanding that he confesses to trying to join the Islamic State in Syria. She said that her husband had been detained illegally, and that he had no unlawful plans.

On 30 April, the woman released another audio message in which she reported that the security services had demanded she write a statement about her husband.

In her apology she said that she was given the opportunity to become acquainted with the criminal case against her husband, and on this basis she realised that she was mistaken.

According to a source in the Chechen police, her husband has confessed and will soon go before a court.

Public apologies to the Chechen people and Ramzan Kadyrov have become a common occurrence, not only among residents of the republic, but also in Russia as a whole. People usually apologise for perceived insults or disseminating information that the Chechen authorities don’t agree with. The list includes pranksters, migrant workers, politicians, athletes, and others. YouTube is full of videos of apologies to Kadyrov.

[Read also: Collective responsibility in Chechnya; an ineffective method of influence]