Public apologies in Nazran emphasize unresolved begging problems

The public apologies of begging women were unlikely voluntary; therefore, they will not affect the situation with begging in streets, an Ingush journalist and a public figure assert.

"This video is an example of how law enforcers turn human misfortune into a public spectacle. The women who came to beg have committed no crime. Yes, they are often intrusive and can irritate people, but the demand to repent in public is not a fight against poverty, but a demonstration of power and humiliation," Izabella Evloeva, a journalist, has stated.

In her opinion, no person’s poverty or vulnerable situation gives law enforcers the right to stage public humiliation, film a video and post it online.

"This is not a fight against offenses, but demonstrative moral violence," Ms Evloeva has emphasized.

An Ingush public figure has confirmed that in the republic, there have always been begging people. According to his version, the women apologized because they had no choice. "What’s the point of an apology if it is not sincere and made under pressure?" he has noted.

The Code of Administrative Offenses provides no liability for begging, Artyom Sidorov, a lawyer, has noted.

According to a lawyer of the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD)*, if the women's apologies were involuntary, then this is a violation of their rights.

*As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the roster of foreign agents was the spread of "inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces."