A controversy has erupted on Telegram after a Daghestani man was detained for shooting at a wedding in Makhachkala.
The news of the man’s detention was first shared by the Telegram channel Criminal Chronicle, which Caucasian Knot reported was the personal channel of Gayana Gariyeva, the head of the press service for the Daghestani Interior Ministry.
‘No, there was no mass brawl. There wasn’t a single incident either. There was no fight at all. There was gunfire, fired into the air from a pistol, for show. Well, the usual’, Gariyeva wrote on Monday night.
She noted that while this was ‘a fairly routine incident for the region, nothing out of the ordinary’, the health authorities ‘ruined everything’.
‘They didn't like, you see, people having a good time, supporting each other, and most importantly, supporting a friend who’s just been married forever’.
‘They packed up the merrymakers and invited the whole group to the Leninsky police station, so to speak, to continue the party […] In the end, the shooter, his five-person support group, and four cars were brought to the police station. Just to be on the safe side’, Gariyeva wrote.
Attached to the Telegram post was a video of a young man answering questions from someone off-camera.
‘I got into a fun mood, wanted to support a friend, and fired two shots [...] The wedding was already ending, I wanted to support a friend, and by mistake I fired two times’, the man says.
The practice of shooting at Caucasian weddings was once considered a ‘talisman against the evil eye’, but has since evolved into a ‘form of fun and excitement’, Caucasian Knot wrote in 2018.
‘Many Caucasians have already forgotten the true meaning of shooting and shoot because it’s fun’, researcher Akhmet Yarlykapov told Caucasian Knot at the time.
Following Gariyeva’s post on Telegram, users took to the comments to debate the practice, with some calling the shooting a ‘tribute to tradition’ and others warning of the danger involved.
One of the first posts was by a user calling the detainees heroes, and sarcastically telling users to close their eyes during a wedding if they were bothered about the guns, questioning whether there was even a public danger.
Another user by the name of Aishat similarly wrote, ‘You don't let us rest or have fun, it’s a wedding after all, leave the people alone, things aren’t great as it is’.
Others supported the traditional aspect, such as user Ibragim Idrisov who stated, ‘actually, shooting into the air during celebrations is an old Daghestani tradition. But these health authorities don't respect traditions at all’.
In turn, other users emphasised local rules, such as R.N.N. who wrote that ‘any shooting in a public place is prohibited, these are basic things that at least should be known’.
Similarly, another user wrote that ‘the most dangerous reasoning is when a person thinks that no harm will come from their actions. That they are more cunning, lucky, and strong than those people who died because of unfortunate actions! Do not risk your own and others’ lives!!!’
‘Do you know what happens if you get hit in the face or an artery with a [bullet from a pistol]?’, another user questioned.
The discussion was still continuing as of Tuesday morning.
Elizaveta Chukharova
