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I'm Maxim Polyakov, a correspondent for the online magazine ‘7x7’.

In May 2024, two cases of persecution involving young women from the North Caucasus drew significant attention. Nineteen-year-old Liya Zaurbekova fled her home in Chechnya, where parents controlled her every move and subjected her to psychological abuse. Simultaneously, human rights defenders and friends of another young Chechen woman, Seda Suleymanova, intensified their efforts to locate her. In 2023, Seda fled from Chechnya to St. Petersburg, but her relatives forcibly returned the girl to her native village. It remains unclear whether she is still alive.

In this newsletter, I will explain why certain Russian laws fail to protect girls from the North Caucasus and why the state turns a blind eye to this issue. Human rights defender and founder of the ‘Marem’ crisis group, Svetlana Anokhina, assisted in compiling a list of violations.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

The North Caucasus in Russia comprises seven regions: Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, and Stavropol Krai. In most of these regions, life is influenced not only by Russian laws but also by local traditions and Islam. As a result, women in the North Caucasus are often deprived of certain rights and freedoms. Here are a few examples.

Abductions and Forced Detention

Girls in the North Caucasus are abducted for various reasons, such as forced marriage. However, human rights defenders rarely document such cases. In 2013, the authorities of Ingushetia adopted a resolution imposing a 200,000 ruble fine and prohibiting the registration of marriages resulting from abductions.

“The law was adopted by men, and they were more concerned with dealing with the consequences [of abductions] than with the fate of the girls. What if their sisters or daughters were abducted? Those were the arguments. The terror and trauma experienced by the girls were completely overlooked; the focus was mostly on the feelings of the families, especially their male members,” recounts Svetlana Anokhina.

• Sixteen-year-old Marem Aliyeva from Ingushetia (the ‘Marem’ crisis group bears her name) was abducted in 1994 by Mukharbek Yevloyev, who intended to marry her. By this time, the 36-year-old man already had six children from two wives, whom he eventually expelled. Marem was an orphan, and therefore nobody could protect her. Right after the wedding, Yevloyev started physically and psychologically abusing his wife. Marem tried to flee several times but returned out of fear for her children, pressured by her relatives. In July 2015, Yevloyev shaved Marem’s hair and threatened her with throwing acid on her face. Later, he also cut off a phalanx of her left thumb. The young woman tried escaping once again but was persuaded to come back, as the village elders promised her protection. In the same year, Marem disappeared, never to be found, yet law enforcement did not initiate a criminal case.
• Marina Yandiyeva from Ingushetia was allowed to enroll in a university in Moscow, but only if she pursued a degree in medicine. After a few years, she decided to change her specialty and become a film director, despite her mother’s disapproval. Although almost all members of Marina’s family had higher education, she was compelled to enter an Islamic center in the Moscow region, where she was subjected to exorcism rituals. After her stay in the center, Marina expressed her desire to live independently, but her family took her back to Ingushetia. In 2016, she managed to escape, but her relatives found her and began monitoring her movements. During the initial years, Marina was not permitted to use the bathroom or toilet alone, close the door, or sleep without someone nearby. She completed her medical studies in Ingushetia and started working at a hospital alongside her mother. Relatives consistently accompanied her, both at university and at work. Marina Yandiyeva was even declared legally incapacitated based on purportedly fabricated documents confirming a mental disorder. Svetlana Anokhina believes that Marina was not subjected to physical abuse but was still unable to live a fulfilling life. In 2023, the girl escaped once again.

Girls who flee are declared missing and searched for, regardless of them asserting that they left voluntarily. According to Svetlana Anokhina, young women from the North Caucasus would run away less frequently if they were at least sometimes listened to, if law enforcement took their statements seriously, and if they were given the opportunity to challenge their parents’ decisions.

“Caucasian education is founded on control and strictness. Young women are constantly under immense pressure. Parents believe they must always exert pressure, intimidate, shout, and threaten their children with a return to their home village,” explains the human rights defender.

Domestic Violence

Domestic abuse is as normalized in the North Caucasus as it is in Russia in general. For instance, it was publicly acknowledged by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. “When you are married, sometimes there are disputes and quarrels, sometimes you might get beaten by your husband,” he said to the mother of 23-year-old Madina Umayeva, who died in Chechnya in 2020. Relatives suspected that Madina was murdered by her husband, who regularly physically assaulted the young woman. Madina attempted to leave him but returned to the family under pressure from her relatives.

Svetlana Anokhina confirms that girls often reach out to human rights defenders due to domestic violence. This is also another reason that compels them to flee.

• In 2021, Khalimat Taramova from Chechnya, the daughter of Ayub Taramov, director of the Grand Park shopping mall and one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s associates, ran away due to physical abuse and violence motivated by her sexual orientation. Relatives forcibly married her off and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. On June 10, 2021, Chechen law enforcement officers broke into the apartment in Makhachkala occupied by the ‘Marem’ crisis group, took Khalimat with them, and deceitfully handed her over to her relatives at the police station. In September 2021, a video of Khalimat saying that she is alright and asking not to spread false rumors of her being abused by her family circulated on social media. According to Svetlana Anokhina, the girl lives in Chechnya and is occasionally seen in beauty parlors and boutiques in Grozny. 

Honor Killings

In the worst-case scenario, relatives may not only abduct a girl suspected of 'improper' behavior but also murder her to 'restore the family's honor.' These crimes are commonly referred to as honor killings.

According to the 2018 report by the Russian Justice Initiative, between 2008 and 2017, 33 honor killings resulted in the deaths of 36 women in the North Caucasus. The victims were mostly young single or divorced women, occasionally married women aged 20 to 30. They were the daughters, sisters, wives, nieces, or stepdaughters of the perpetrators.

Human rights defenders and friends of Seda Suleymanova, whom I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, believe she might have been a victim of an honor killing. In August 2023, the police forcibly removed her from the apartment in St. Petersburg, where she lived with her fiancé, Stanislav Kudryavtsev. Seda was detained for allegedly stealing jewelry in Chechnya, though at the time of the robbery, she was in St. Petersburg. Local police handed her over to Chechen law enforcers, who then delivered the girl to her relatives. Immediately afterward, the criminal case vanished.

In September 2023, there was the first news about Seda since her abduction. The Chechen Human Rights Ombudsman, Mansur Soltayev, published a video in which he walked alongside the girl as confirmation that she was alive and ‘safe.’ Seda did not speak in the video, and no information has emerged since. After numerous appeals initiated by Seda’s friend and fiancé, law enforcement opened a criminal case based on her ‘disappearance without a trace.’ However, Svetlana Anokhina points out that Seda’s relatives are considered the victims, and the supposed murder is unlikely to be properly investigated. In most cases, law enforcement simply calls the family, who claim the girl is fine.

"Abductors are not punished, as if they have committed nothing. Everyone understands that when the girls are in their hands, they cannot say anything. In some broadcasts recorded by Mansur Soltayev, the girls remain silent, and he speaks on their behalf. But what can they actually say if their potential murderers are in the same room?" emphasizes Anokhina.

Sometimes, other crimes against women are disguised as honor killings. For instance, murders for financial reasons: a brother and sister cannot divide their parents' inheritance, so he kills her and claims it was an honor killing. Criminals use this explanation to receive lighter sentences, as honor killings are unofficially considered mitigating circumstances.

Police Complicity

Law enforcement officers employ various methods to detain girls and return them to their families, including fabricating legal cases. Quite often, relatives themselves file complaints, accusing the escapees of stealing jewelry, which serves as a pretext to declare the girls wanted. The case is not investigated at the location of the alleged theft but in their native republics. Once the girls are transferred there and handed over to the relatives, the latter withdraw the complaint, and the case is closed. Such a complaint was filed against Leyla Gireyeva from Ingushetia, who fled to St. Petersburg but was eventually returned to the republic. Selima Ismailova from Chechnya was detained at the airport for allegedly stealing 85,000 rubles and taken back to the region as well. Seda Suleymanova was registered as a witness in a case involving stolen jewelry.

Relatives also often forge certificates of incapacity. Leyla Gireyeva was declared incapacitated, and her father became her legal guardian. Marina Yandiyeva from Ingushetia received the same label based on the documents that, in her opinion, were fabricated. Due to this alleged evidence of mental illness, she was unable to seek help from the police.

"This is absolutely illegal; certificates of incapacity cannot be issued so easily. But if the police accept them without any additional proof, we immediately understand whose side they are on," explains Anokhina.

Women from Chechnya may also be monitored through the 'Magistral' system, which identifies any attempt to buy a transport ticket using their documents. In 2019, Aminat Lorsanova escaped from home and tried to fly to Moscow from Mineralnye Vody, but she was refused boarding. Previously, Aminat filed a complaint with the police against the exorcist of genies whom her relatives took her to. The exorcist did not face any charges, and the girl was added to the tracking system. This way, law enforcement learned about her purchase of a plane ticket and came to take her back to Chechnya alongside Aminat’s father.

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