This article is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original in English here.
Chechnya’s state broadcaster, ChGTRK “Grozny” [Chechen State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company], has aired reports presenting two women as “witches.” In one of the reports, one of the women was accused of causing a man to suffer a stroke through “witchcraft.”
One of the segments shows items that the TV channel claims were used in magic rituals. Among them is a photograph of a man in military uniform with magical symbols drawn on it.
“The photograph shows an object associated with witchcraft, found on a person who was reportedly targeted by witchcraft. This is already the second such object found recently. Currently, this person is bedridden after suffering a stroke,” reads the video’s caption.
In another segment, a woman speaks to the camera, denying that she practices witchcraft. In the recording, she states that she is a teacher and speaks three languages—Russian, Chechen, and English.
In yet another video, another woman makes hand gestures over a second woman during what appears to be a magic ritual. A few seconds later, she says that the ritual did not work.
“The witch failed when the healer-theologian Adam Elzhurkaev was nearby. As a reminder: the elderly woman who provided occult services has been detained,” the video’s caption says.
All the videos were filmed in the assembly hall of an unnamed government institution, with the Russian and Chechen flags visible in the background.
The reports did not state whether criminal cases had been opened against the women or if any official charges had been brought.
Similar reports regularly appear on Chechen state television. In them, residents of the republic are publicly accused of practicing witchcraft, fortune-telling, or activities that the authorities and religious figures consider contrary to Islam. Typically, the subjects of such reports publicly apologize or confess their guilt on camera.
The campaign against “witches” in Chechnya has been ongoing since the late 2010s. The republic’s authorities and associated religious figures have repeatedly called for a crackdown on people providing occult services. Russian law does not provide for criminal liability for “witchcraft” as such.
Elzhurkaev frequently appears in such television reports and segments, where he publicly holds the detainees to account.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized this practice, noting that public confessions broadcast on state television may violate the right to privacy and human dignity, and may be obtained under duress.
In 2021, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom drew attention to the practice of public apologies in Chechnya and recommended imposing sanctions against the republic’s Minister of Press and Information, Akhmed Dudayev, who previously headed the Grozny State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.