Ingush woman tells story of her escape from domestic violence

For several years, relatives controlled Marina Yandieva, a resident of Ingushetia, around the clock after her first attempt to escape, and also organized rituals to expel the genies from her.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Marina Yandieva, 28, ran away from home due to domestic violence. Her relatives threaten Magomed Alamov, a human rights defender, with murder if she does not return, although Alamov did not know about the situation, but only gave Yandieva a lift, the "Team against Torture"* has reported.

Yandieva said that she has lived "all her life" in a culture of violence. "Since my childhood, I have seen that women are deprived of the right to vote, exposed to physical violence, and killed ... I studied with a girl who was subjected to an 'honour killing'," Marina told the "Mediazona"**.

According to Yandieva, in 2011 she left for Moscow and entered the medical department; and a few years later she decided to start studying the stage directing. The family was against it.

In 2015, her relatives placed her into an Islamic centre near Moscow, where exorcism rituals were performed on her. "They strangle you, and step on your throat. And your mother is watching this... After that, I declared that I would live separately," she has stated.

After escaping from Ingushetia in August 2016, Marina was returned home and began to be strictly controlled. In October 2023, the SK SOS Crisis Group** agreed to help her with an escape.

Marina Yandieva has treated the ultimatum of the relatives holding Alamov a "disgusting manipulation" and emphasized that she does not plan to return.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the 18-year-old resident of Nazran, Leyla Gireeva, was subjected to domestic violence and "expulsion of genies"; she ran away from home on November 14, 2022.

*The "Team against Torture" (TaT, formerly the "Committee against Torture" – CaT) was created by the lawyers who had earlier worked for the CaT, which was included into the register of the NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.