A native of Ingushetia who fled from violence was detained in Armenia

In Armenia, a 21-year-old native of Ingushetia, Fatima Zurabova, who ran away from her family due to domestic violence, was detained at the request of her relatives. Svetlana Anokhina, head of the Marem movement in support of women in danger, told Kavkaz.Realii about this.

The police came to the apartment in the city of Ashtarak, where Zurabova temporarily lived. She was taken to the police station in Yerevan. There, she was informed of a criminal case against her and her phone was confiscated.

In the precinct, Zurabova was locked up with her uncle Yusup and his friend, who had come to pick her up, who threatened to return home. At that time, the police copied information from Zurabova’s smartphone. The detainee explained that she came to Armenia as a victim of domestic violence and asked for help, but was told that they could not help, as the “crime” was committed on the territory of Russia.

Zurabova remains in the police station, as it is the safest place for her. Human rights activists fear that if Zurabova goes outside, she can be taken to Ingushetia by force, Anokhina added. At the same time, the police in Yerevan refused to accept the statement of threats from the relatives and to issue a paper about the threat of domestic violence, without which the runaway would not be admitted to the shelter.

“Her rights were grossly violated – they locked her up with her uncle, even though she asked not to do it, they took away her phone, they didn’t let her see a lawyer, who was not allowed to see her. According to her uncle, he has very influential friends in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, we fear that he uses these connections,” Anokhina explained.

The relative also threatened to “deal with everyone who helped Fatima.”

• At the end of September, Fatima Zurabova turned to human rights activists and told about systematic beatings in the family. She was beaten for behavior “unpleasant” to Ingush society and for “preventive purposes”, for example, for disagreeing with the opinion of other family members or disobedience. On November 8, she was able to leave home under the pretext of going to work and, with the support of the “Marem” group, flew to Armenia through the Ministry of Water.