Human rights defenders face threats after reporting about girl’s beating in Khasavyurt

The “Caucasus Without a Mother” movement, which reported about the beating of a 16-year-old girl by her father, has faced threats and demands for an apology. People posing as family members and their acquaintances are demanding to remove the post.

The 16-year-old girl from Khasavyurt has got injuries as a result of being beaten by her father, and now she stays at a resuscitation ward in a hospital, the “Caucasus Without a Mother” movement reports. The girl was beaten by her father in punishment for meeting with her mother, as the man took two daughters away from his former wife in 2021 and prevented the mother and the children from communicating, forbidding them to see each other.

The “Caucasus Without a Mother” movement has made public the screenshots with threats from the family and, allegedly, neighbours and acquaintances of the family. In one of the comments left on a page in Instagram*, users, allegedly writing on behalf of the girl’s family, have claimed that she had an illness seizure and got hematomas while assistance was being provided to her. The authors of the message threaten to sue the human rights defenders for defamation.

In the Telegram channel of the “Caucasus Without a Mother” movement, someone posted an entry with a demand of an apology from the human rights defenders.

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi District Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.