Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said missing writers Rizvan Ibragimov and Abubakar Didiyev “apologized to the scientific community and the Chechen clergy” for publishing misleading work on Islamic history and science, the MediaZona news website reported Wednesday.
In an Instagram post, the Chechen leader told of his meeting with Chechen academics and writers from the Russian republic of Chechnya's Academy of Science and Union of Writers.
“Those present at the meeting said fringe scientists published brochures and books that impugned Islamic history and the findings of the Chechen people from ancient times to the present day,” Kadyrov wrote, MediaZona reported.
Kadyrov cited the work of Ibragimov and Didiyev as examples, adding that in the course of “public discussions” the writers themselves recognized that their literature “has no scientific base”.
Ibragimov and Didiyev were arrested and taken from their homes by local security forces on April 1 and are being held in an undisclosed location, news website Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) reported, citing an unidentified source.
“I can’t say that it was kidnap. The security forces took them, but without any kind of arrest warrant. Their relatives know where they are. As far as I know, violence was not used towards them,” the source said, Caucasian Knot reported.
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