A resident of Makhachkala publicly confessed for filming a drone attack.
Law enforcement officers filmed a public confession of a resident of Makhachkala for filming a drone attack. Residents of Dagestan criticized the public condemnation of the detainee while commenting on this video on social media.
The practice of public apologies, initiated by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has spread beyond the republic and into other regions of Russia. More about this practice can be read in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "The Trend of Apologies: From Chechnya to the Outskirts".
The video, in which one of the residents of Makhachkala publicly confessed for filming a drone attack, was published on September 14 by the Instagram*-public makhachkala_. The footage shows the resident of Makhachkala in a room, his face blurred, while a person off-camera asks him questions.
The detainee stated that during the drone attack, he filmed the flying drones from his apartment and then sent the recording to friends in a group. According to him, the video spread further. After that, law enforcement officers came to him, checked his phone, and took him to the station.
"I filmed this for myself and accidentally sent it to a group for friends so they could see it too. But accidentally, this video went further. I didn’t know [about the ban on filming drone attacks], I repented. It won’t happen again," he said.
"In Dagestan, law enforcement officers identified residents of Makhachkala who spread videos of UAV attacks – among them was a minor. According to law enforcement, the footage showed the locations of air defense systems and the consequences of the strikes," the video description states.
This post in the Instagram*-public makhachkala_, which has about 251 thousand followers, had received 241 likes and 202 comments by 15:10 MSK on September 17.
Some commentators considered the public condemnation a form of pressure. "This was done on purpose to make people afraid to do it. All those caught for theft, etc., have their faces shown! But his face was covered," wrote aisha84466.
"Intimidation," said a comment from user laivrnd.
"Those who launch them should be sought, detained, and interrogated, not those who film," believes djamal_magomedov_29.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that residents of Dagestan periodically make public apologies after various incidents, violations, and offenses. For example, on September 13, an 18-year-old resident of Makhachkala publicly repented after being detained for dangerous driving without a license. On July 19, another resident of Dagestan apologized to traffic police for an insult after they issued a protocol against him for tinting. On June 28, a resident of Leninkent made public apologies after a conflict with teenagers.