Shalazhi

Shalazhi is a types of [inhabited localities in Russia|rural locality] in the Urus-Martanovsky District, the Chechen Republic, Russia.

Geography

Shalazhi is located west of the republic on the foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains and is located on the banks of the Shalezha River. It is west of Urus-Martan and south-west of the City of Grozny.
The nearest settlements to Shalazhi are Katyr-Yurt and Valerik, [Achkhoy-Martanovsky District|Valerik] in the north, Gekhi-Chu in the east and Yandi in the north-west.

History

1944–1958

In 1944, after the genocide and deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was abolished, the village of Shalazhi was renamed to Podgornoye.
In 1958, after the Vaynakh people returned and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored, the village regained its old names, Shalazhi in Russian, and Şalaƶa in Chechen.

Present time

In 2020, the village made headlines as the place where Abdullah Anzorov was buried. A young radicalized Chechen refugee living in France with his family, he decapitated a history teacher named Samuel Paty he believed was guilty of blasphemy against Muhammad.
His burial, which was filmed with a cellphone and published on the internet, attracted significant controversy. Cries of Allahu Akbar accompanied the funeral procession are considered as support for Paty's murder, denied by some as being just a tribute to his death, like any deceased Muslim. Another controversy erupted after Russian news site news.ru claimed a street had been renamed in Anzorov's honour. The Chechen television of the Kadyrov administration denied this rumor, believing that is a fake news and a photo montage.

Population

1979 Census: 5,044
1990 Census: 5,639
2002 Census: 5,307
2010 Census: 4,998
2012 Census: 5,032
2013 Census: 5,078
2014 Census: 5,094
2015 Census: 5,133
2016 Census: 5,169
2017 Census: 5,212
2018 Census: 5,267
2019 Census: 5,313
2020 Census: 5,332