On February 6, 2021, another resident of Dagestan was cynically killed by law enforcement officers. And while in the previous case it was possible to explain the killing as self-defense by an armed policeman against an unarmed civilian, the circumstances of this case point to cynical retaliation.
Two officers of the Russian National Guard fired 36 bullets (!) at the former head of the village of Novokuli, Abakar Kaplanov (pictured), in the office of the Soviet District Department of Internal Affairs in Makhachkala. But even in such a situation, this punitive structure, created to suppress popular uprisings, tries to justify itself. Thus, according to the Dagestani media, citing an anonymous «source in law enforcement», the poor officers received threats from the deceased, which is why they came to the police station to complain about him. However, as it goes on to say, «an attempt to resolve this conflict by inviting both conflicting parties to the office of the head of the Criminal Investigation Department ended in tragedy».
What could have happened if 36 bullets were fired at a person inside a police building?! Even if he had begun to behave confrontationally, what prevented the police, who were there in large numbers, from simply arresting him? And even assuming the use of firearms for self-defense in such a situation, it would have been one or two shots, but firing 36 shots is a methodical execution and nothing else.
Not long ago, the security forces surprised the Russian public with an innovation when they brought a judge to a police station to hold a trial against Navalny. Now they are carrying out executions right inside police stations, even though Russia officially does not have the death penalty.
Last time we wrote about a similar, though less cynical story that happened a little over a month ago, we said this: «What happened has caused furious outrage in Dagestan. And not surprisingly — in the United States, similar incidents, most notably the murder of African-American George Floyd, have recently sparked mass protests and riots across the country under the slogan ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Some have already drawn parallels between the two situations…»
And as we can see, such parallels are becoming more and more obvious — Russian security forces in Dagestan are behaving in the same way as American police officers in African-American ghettos. It doesn’t matter that in this case, unlike the previous one, the killers themselves turned out to be Dagestani. When the Russian law-enforcement structures accepted them into their ranks, dressed them in their uniforms, and issued them weapons, they automatically assumed full responsibility for them. Especially if it happened on the territory of the district Internal Affairs Directorate.
If something similar had happened to African-Americans in the United States, tens of thousands of their representatives would have risen up all over the country under the slogan «Black Lives Matter». Do the lives of Dagestanis matter?!