A Chechen police chief married a 17-year-old at the weekend despite a growing outcry over claims that the teenager had been forced to wed the man, who has another wife and is thought to be three times her age.

The bride, named locally as Kheda (Luiza) Goylabiyeva, was married to Nazhud Guchigov, in Grozny on Saturday in a ceremony attended by the leader of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Guchigov, the groom, was initially said to be 57 but later claimed he was 46. Neither forced, nor under-age nor polygamous marriages are permitted under Russian law.

The marriage has caused a stir in the Russian press, prompting Kadyrov to call on journalists to stop meddling in the couple’s private lives.

The scandal emerged late last month after investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that Guchigov had launched an intimidation campaign against Goylabiyeva’s parents, giving them an ultimatum to surrender their daughter to avoid “unfortunate consequences”. The journalist who reported the story has since fled Chechnya, fearing for her safety.

Guchigov initially denied the claims, insisting that he was not planning to take a second wife.

Kadyrov said earlier this month he was upset that the story had been picked up by national media outlets, dismissing the republic’s media and information minister for mismanaging the scandal.

“I am sure those who unceremoniously interfered for a long time in the private lives of Nazhud and Luiza will answer [for their actions] in court,” Kadyrov wrote on Instagram on Friday. “The appropriate actions are already being prepared.”

Kadyrov posted a video of himself dancing at the wedding on Saturday. The Chechen leader wrote that he had seen the stamps placed in the newlyweds’ passports, a formality for married Russian couples. Yet under Russian federal law, second marriages — which are permissible in traditional practice for Chechen men — cannot be registered as official partnerships.

The head of Kadyrov’s administration, former Chechen militant Magomed Daurov, was seen escorting the bride to the ceremony and was present during proceedings.

Goylabiyeva being escorted by head of the Chechen leader’s administration, Magomed Daudov, to the wedding registry office. Photograph: AP

Kadyrov, who had taken to Instagram to invite his one million followers on the popular photo-sharing site to attend the wedding, insisted that all legal norms, religious practices and local traditions had been respected.

The Russian Civil Code states that 18 is the minimum age for marriage but contains clauses that allow for marriage at 16 in certain cases.

Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov caused a scandal last week by coming out in favour of the right of older men to marry teen brides.



“Emancipation and sexual maturity come earlier in the Caucasus, let’s not be hypocritical,” he told Russian News Service radio on Thursday, adding: “There are places where women are already shriveled by the age of 27, and look about 50 to us.”

He later apologised in an Instagram post, saying that women of any age were “wonderful and delightful.”

A version of this article first appeared on The Moscow Times