European Leader Calls for Execution of Coronavirus Quarantine-Breakers
The head of Russia’s republic of Chechnya said Tuesday that anyone who breaks the coronavirus quarantine and infects others should be killed, according to local news reports.
“If you ask me, anyone who creates this problem for himself should be killed,” Ramzan Kadyrov said, the regional Caucasian Knot news agency reported.
“Not only does he get sick, [but he also infects] his family, his sisters, brothers, neighbors.”
Kadyrov made the statement during a Chechen government meeting, according to The Moscow Times.
At the time of the meeting, the republic, which is a subject of the Russian Federation, had confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus.
Kadyrov’s statement was in response to a Chechen resident who returned from a visit to Mecca and didn’t comply with the quarantine.
During the meeting, health minister Elkhan Suleymanov said three people who had visited Turkey, Mecca and Saudi Arabia had all displayed symptoms of COVID-19, Newsweek reported.
Kadyrov cautioned Chechens to “not move around” because if “one thousand people have to come into a hospital in one day, we can’t do anything,” Newsweek reported.
On Tuesday, he also ordered all restaurants and “crowded places” in Chechnya to close to try to stop the spread of coronavirus, according to The Moscow Times.
The leader also said anyone who spreads false information about the virus should be punished with community service. No official executions have been carried out in Russia since 1996, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
This is a shift from messaging a few weeks ago, when Kadyrov dismissed concerns about COVID-19 and advised people to strengthen their immune systems by drinking water with lemon and eating garlic.
At the beginning of March, 20,000 people gathered in the Chechen capital of Grozny to sample wild garlic dishes at the annual Honk Fest festival.
“There really are a lot of vitamins in this plant,” tourism minister Muslim Baytaziev said. “It definitely boosts your immunity, has a beneficial effect on your overall health and well-being.
“And what do you need in the fight against any virus? Just a strong immune system.”
“So, I think everyone that’s taken part in this festival has become a bit healthier and definitely become more protected against coronavirus,” he added.
As of Wednesday morning, there have been 658 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Russia, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
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