22:22, 10 July 2020

Human rights defenders criticize verification of female circumcision complaint in Ingushetia

A child's hands and the Quran. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Jarekji AJ/THI

The "Legal Initiative" will challenge the investigators' refusal to institute criminal proceedings against a clinic in Magas where a nine-year-old girl was subjected to female circumcision surgery. The investigators failed to carry out a thorough check into the activities of the clinic, human rights defenders claim.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a woman from Chechnya succeeded in seeking of opening a criminal case in Ingushetia on the intentional infliction of slight harm to the health of her nine-year-old daughter. The woman claims that her former husband, without her knowledge, took the girl to a clinic, where the girl had been subjected to a female circumcision procedure.

In turn, on May 12, lawyers of the "Legal Initiative" project sent to the Investigating Department for Ingushetia of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) a request to check the activities of the treatment and diagnostic clinic in Magas. If female circumcision procedures were actually practiced in the clinic, then the doctors who performed such surgeries and the clinic's managers are to be held criminally liable, the human rights defenders state.

An investigator of the Nazran Interdistrict Investigating Division refused to institute a criminal case under an appeal from the lawyers of the "Legal Initiative". According to the today's statement released by the "Legal Initiative" and sent to the "Caucasian Knot", the investigator explained his refusal by the alleged "absence of a criminal act."

"We will challenge the investigator's refusal in court," said senior lawyer Tatiana Savvina.

According to a resolution issued by the investigator, during the check of the clinic's activities, the general director was questioned, and he claimed that the medical centre had no license to provide gynecologist services. Meanwhile, the "Legal Initiative" received a message from the clinic's official account on Instagram. According to the above message, a pediatric gynecologist works in the clinic, performs female circumcision surgeries, and a procedure costs 2000 roubles. "The procedure of female circumcision can be performed in accordance with medical condition of a patient and at a request of patient's parents," the "Legal Initiative" quoted the clinic as responding. Let us remind you that the "Legal Initiative" provides legal assistance to the mother of the girl who was subjected to a female circumcision procedure.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 10, 2020 at 07:14 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.