Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.[KavkazUzel] Police have released a video of an apology from a Krasnodar resident detained for shooting at a wedding. The young man explained his actions as an attempt to follow Caucasian customs.
As the " Caucasian Knot " wrote, although shooting is regarded as an offense, the tradition of shooting at a wedding has been preserved in the North Caucasus. In January, a seven-year-old girl was wounded in a shooting at a wedding in Karachay-Cherkessia. A resident of Rostov-on-Don, detained in connection with the incident, admitted guilt, police reported.
The ritual of shooting at a Caucasian wedding was considered a “talisman against the evil eye,” but the ancient tradition has long turned into an element of fun and courage, Caucasian experts interviewed by the Caucasian Knot stated in 2018. “Many Caucasians have already forgotten the true meaning of shooting and shoot because it’s fun,” said, in particular, Akhmet Yarlykapov.
Police in Krasnodar are conducting an investigation “into the fact of a group violation of public order,” official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk reported today in her Telegram channel.
“Persons who participated in the festive event and violated public order in the residential sector and on the federal highway were identified and interviewed. Among them was a 22-year-old local resident who shot several times in the air at the entrance of the house. It turned out that the shots were fired from a cold weapon,” - the message says.
Several people have already been brought to administrative responsibility, “the actions of the remaining offenders will also be given a legal assessment,” the publication notes.
The message is illustrated with a video on which the emblem of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the inscription “Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia” are superimposed. The recording was taken indoors and shows a young man whose face has been retouched. He speaks, worried and searching for words.
“While today, February 24, at 60 Dushystaya Street, at a friend’s wedding, I took an empty Kalashnikov assault rifle out of the car, and because I thought [that] according to their customs this would be normal both from the law and from the people, fired shots into the air. The act was thoughtless, and this will not happen again,” the detainee said in the video. The Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Krasnodar Territory reposted this publication on its Telegram channel, without accompanying it with additional information.
The incident occurred on February 24 on Dushystaya Street. There, the bride and groom stood near a high-rise building, and one of the guests fired a shot from a machine gun. This was accompanied by joyful screams and whistles, 93.ru reports today.
On the same day, a wedding cortege of more than 10 cars blocked several lanes on Yeisk Highway and the entrance to a residential complex in the Molodezhny microdistrict. The drivers got out of their cars and began to dance. Eyewitnesses said that some cars did not have license plates, the newspaper writes.
According to the city department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, drivers who violated traffic rules on Yeisk Highway have been brought to administrative responsibility, Kommersant reports today.
The person detained for the shooting is a 22-year-old local resident. “The object from which the man fired did not pose a threat to others and is not a military weapon. At the end of the proceedings, a legal decision will be made and the actions of the specified citizen will be given a legal assessment,” the publication quotes a message from the city police.
The "Caucasian Knot" has repeatedly written about incidents of shooting at weddings in the regions of the North Caucasus. So, in March 2023, a resident of Nalchik was punished for shooting at a wedding. In January of the same year, on the border of North Ossetia and Ingushetia, participants in a wedding procession fired into the air near a police checkpoint, while the police did not try to stop them.