Teacher stops teaching children Russian because of police beating
By Ruslan Isayev
CHECHNYA - A teacher of Russian language and literature from the mountain village of Benoy-Vedeno has told President Putin in a letter that he is ceasing to teach children the language. Alavdi Akhmatov felt he had no option but to write such a letter because of what happened to him in an incident in early May in neighbouring Dagestan, near the Chechen border.
During his visit to Dagestan he was badly beaten without any reason by local police in the village of Tukhchar in the Novolaksky district. His wife and children who were present in the car were also subjected to taunts and mockery.
Only by a happy chance was he able to escape from the clutches of the Dagestani policemen. In this he was helped by a Chechen policeman who had come to visit the Novolaksky police station on business of his own.
The teacher from Benoy-Vedeno, who has been teaching Russian language and literature to children for 25 years, was in shock at what the Dagestani policemen did to him.
On arriving home, he at once filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's office. However, after long wranglings, his request for a criminal investigation of his beating to be opened was turned down on the grounds that the incident had taken place in the neighbouring republic, not in Chechnya. Appeals to other state authorities went unheeded.
Seeing that he was powerless in the face of the whims of the authorities, Alavdi Akhmatov decided to stop teaching Russian language and literature. "It's my protest against the lawlessness that's being committed against an ordinary person. I have always taught children Russian, which is considered the official language here, but if this government can't guarantee the protection of my rights, I refuse to teach it to the children," Akhmatov says, explaining his decision.(D/T)
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