"There are no funerals—they can bury you anywhere."
A researcher of "honor killings" in the North Caucasus discusses how they are covered up and why protecting women in the republics is becoming increasingly difficult..
We are publishing this text in collaboration with project «Vowel".
On March 8, St. Petersburg resident Lena Patyaeva came out She took to the streets to remind residents of the fate of her Chechen friend, Seda Suleimanova. Patyaeva walked down Nevsky Prospekt wearing a coat with the bright sign "Where is Seda?" The Chechen girl was kidnapped in August 2023 in St. Petersburg, where she fled after learning that her family wanted to marry her off. Seda was soon handed over to Chechen security forces, and then to relatives back home. Six months later, human rights activists have suggestedthat Seda could have become the victim of an "honor killing."
In the North Caucasus, the victims of so-called honor killings are those whose behavior is considered a disgrace to the family by their relatives. The motives may include infidelity to a partner (current or former), sexual activity after divorce or before marriage, leaving home, communicating with men on social media—or rumors about all of these.
To this day, "shame" and "immoral behavior" continue to be the motives for the murders of women, as the relatives of the murdered openly state in court—and to this day, the perpetrators continue to escape punishment. Thus, of the 31 convictions for the murder of women in Chechnya, 22 were for "honor killings." These are only the registered cases that went to trial.
About it in your report*Sociologist, lawyer, and head of the Caucasus. World. Development Center for the Study of Global Contemporary Issues and Regional Problems, Saida Sirazhudinova, explains. Her research covers all available court verdicts for the murders of women in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan.
Glasnaya spoke with Saida Sirazhudinova about how such crimes are investigated, how they are covered up, how the situation with gender-based violence is changing in the North Caucasus, and why protecting women is becoming increasingly difficult.
― Who commits them more often? «murders honor"?
"Honor killings" are most often committed by fathers, brothers, or cousins. They are punishment for a woman's "immoral behavior," and the decision is usually made by her family. Traditionally, there is a consultation process before the murder.
When husbands kill, legally it's closer to a domestic crime, a different statute. Jealousy or an unwillingness to let go are more often the motive.
― Does the law reflect this specificity of “honor killings”?
— In the law mentioned murder motivated by blood feud, and this motive has been a serious aggravating circumstance since the Soviet Criminal Code (CC). When the courts endure A murder case motivated by blood feud carries a harsher sentence. However, this is typically the case when the victims are men.
There are no amendments to the Criminal Code regarding women. The term "honor killing" was previously not used in courts; instead, it was used as "murder for immoral behavior" or "damaging family honor." This term has recently become generally accepted in the Caucasus regions.
Defendants often claim that the crime was committed in a state of passion. If the judge is lenient, the crime will be recognized as a result of passion.
― What are such crimes based on—the belief that relatives have the right to control a woman’s life?
"This stems from the norms of adat—unwritten customs that are still important in the regions of the North Caucasus. There's a common belief that a family has every right to control the life of "their" woman."
Chechen society will say nothing about Seda Suleimanova: everyone considers it a family matter. And no one in her circle will reveal what happened to her; there is no investigation, and there never will be.
And such cases are the majority.
Relatives tell people outside the country that the girl has moved to another city, or gotten married, or lives in Siberia, or in Europe. The emigration of Chechens to Europe played into the hands of the killers. They say: she's far away, she has problems with her documents, so she doesn't come. No one will look for her in Europe anymore.
― In the first report on “honor killings,” “Killed by Gossip,” says About 39 crimes in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan from 2008 to 2017. Is it possible to say how many of them occur in just one year or how many have occurred in recent years?
"It's difficult to give precise numbers for specific periods. Before "Killed by Gossip," there was another study based on interviews, which revealed that far from all of these crimes were investigated and prosecuted, and not all resulted in convictions. People also didn't disclose many things in interviews.
We only examined the sentences in which the motive and elements of the crime are indisputably evident. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Since the publication of the report on "honor killings," new crimes have occurred. We see that this practice continues, but we only hear about what accidentally leaks out. Most of these crimes are beyond our ability to analyze.
For example, the alleged "honor killing" of Seda Suleimanova. A horrific illustration of my already published report and the fact that nothing is changing in the regions I studied.
― So, in your observations, the number of such murders hasn't changed significantly? Have they increased since the beginning of 2022?
"We don't see any progress yet. The consequences of men going to the front, I think, will become apparent in about two years."
My feeling is that everything remains at the same level for now. Dozens of people killed in Chechnya, in Dagestan. That's my conclusion. has done, having studied all available sentences under Articles 105 (murder) and 107 of the Criminal Code (murder in a state of passion) since 2011 - about 15 thousand.
― What are the specific features of these crimes in different regions?
"In Chechnya, if the accused seeks leniency, they describe the victim's immoral behavior. In the overwhelming majority of cases, these are the words used in court: 'immoral behavior.'"
In Dagestan, verdicts often contain no information about the motive for the murder. One can only guess.
The situation in Ingushetia is similar to that in Chechnya. When in 2019 a man shot dead When he saw a woman at the market, the first thing he told the police was that she had led an immoral lifestyle, betrayed his uncle, and so on. This wasn't confirmed, according to the verdict. But he tried to justify himself in this way and soften his fate—appealing to the judges' pity with the "motivation of honor" to win their favor.
Even a recent case in Dagestan, when a man killed The publicly declared "honor motive" played to the accused's advantage in the eyes of some of society: the victim was an athlete, and this puny boy shot him because he was bullied, called names, and urinated on. It offended his honor, he killed his attacker, and society supported him. No one would stand up for women like that, but they might for men.
The "honor motive" remains relevant to this day. It's something that can play on the emotions of both society and judges.
― Do they hold funerals after such murders?
"It all depends on the situation. One of the relatives might take responsibility and confess after the girl's murder. If it's done secretly, the woman simply disappears. Then there's no funeral. No person, no crime."
From the verdicts, we saw that some of the victims were discovered by accident in the forest or while someone was digging. Only after the discovery did the investigation begin.
Sometimes they try to disfigure the body, for example, by burning it, so that it becomes impossible to identify it.
I was in Ingushetia not long ago found A woman's body with no face or hands was found in the forest, and that was the last thing anyone knew about it. There's no word on the investigation.
― And if the killer confesses to an “honor killing,” can the victim be buried in the usual way?
— They usually bury the body away from the cemetery. But they can also bury it in the usual way, so as not to distinguish it in any way. In all three regions, this can depend on local customs and the attitudes of the immediate family. In Dagestan, it depends on the traditions of each village.
If a woman's death is passed off as an accident or illness, then relatives can hold a regular funeral and accept condolences.
I know a story where a man killed his son and his second wife (not the son's mother) for having sex. He couldn't get over the fact that his son and wife, who were the same age, had entered into a relationship. After the murder, people came to him to offer their condolences, as if it had been an accident. But he ended up in prison.
Why, despite all this patriarchy in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, are there not so many murders of women compared to other regions?
“I think many crimes are simply not recorded as murders, so they cannot be captured by statistics.
The first study on such murders drew a reaction from the Caucasus: it was all a lie, we made it all up. Mansur Soltayev, the Chechen human rights ombudsman, said there were no such cases because he hadn't received any such complaints.
Then I started thinking: what should I do? And I realized I needed to look for evidence. That's how I came to the method of analyzing sentences. And everything was confirmed. Our critics hardly refuted the second study.
The second study, moreover, complemented the first: the Caucasus and statistics don't mix well. Total deception is rampant.
― Recently I decided to find the verdict in a high-profile case in Ingushetia, when in 2020 my brother stabbed to death Liza Mogushkova. It turns out the verdict isn't on the court's website.
“I think that not publishing the sentences is an order from higher-ranking officials.” law Courts must publish information except in cases where there are minor victims.
My task was to conduct a comparative quantitative analysis—to show in numbers how many crimes there were in each region. To research the criminal practice of violence against women, I had to read everything: review five to six thousand cases for each region, sifting through them to isolate the relevant ones. I spent over two years reading and researching these sentences.
But since 2018, information on Ingushetia and Dagestan has been disappearing from court websites. Chechnya has proven more open: some disappearances have also occurred there, but only in isolated cases.
When I saw that chunks of information were missing, I realized it wouldn't be representative, so I restructured the study. Many links to court judgments in my study also didn't work—the texts of these judgments remained only in my archives. I had links in the table, but when I went through them to verify them, I discovered they were empty.
- In your report, you mention that levels of sexualized violence are rising in those same regions. Why is this happening?
"The number of such cases in judicial practice is growing. I think victims are also coming forward more often. In the late 2000s, I interviewed people who had worked in the criminal system for a long time. Even back then, they noted a surge in domestic violence, especially against children, and wondered if this was due to women increasingly taking second wives.
But in those years, it was less scary to raise the topic of domestic violence. There was no need to worry about being labeled a feminist, which is widely condemned in the Caucasus.
The police and mediation system are not working in the victims' favor. The system has a differentiated approach. If a child is harmed, it's clearly bad, and if the case goes to court, the rapist will be punished. But only if the victim is under 14. If the victim is a girl or woman, it's overlooked.
The police even take on the role of mediator, trying to persuade the victim's relatives to marry her off to the rapist, and urging them to reach an agreement with him.
Masliyat (arbitration) is often used—an arbitration court based on adat and sharia law, involving religious authorities. If the [perpetrator's] family is influential, the victim and her loved ones are threatened with loss of their jobs, social standing, and harm to the family. Pressure is also exerted not only on the woman but on her entire circle. And the victims often give in.
The rise of religiosity in society is having a negative impact on women's protection. People simply approach the rapist and offer to settle the matter by marrying the victim: marry him, and the problem will be solved.
Up to 80% of cases of violence against women in the Caucasus remain unreported. Even if outsiders know something is happening, they won't report it, out of concern for someone else's family.
— You write that a victim of violence can even take the blame (during the investigation and, obviously, pressure on her) and say that she wrote a false denunciation under the influence of certain circumstances?
"Yes, this happens in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and most often in Dagestan. In these cases, the victim receives a minor sentence: either a suspended sentence or a fine, and that's it. The verdicts don't explain why women change their minds. But there are many convictions for allegedly false accusations against men, many times more than convictions for rape. And this is despite the fact that the courts are not in conflict with the law." Statistics, that up to 90% of those raped do not report to the police at all.
― What can be said about such a violent tradition as bride kidnapping?
Bride kidnappings have decreased in the republics, but they still occur in some places. At the local level, law enforcement doesn't equate them with kidnapping, and the punishment is not the same. Although it is, in fact, kidnapping. All the kidnappings of girls that have occurred in recent years, including high-profile ones, have not been investigated or even classified as crimes. An adult is forcibly taken away, but there is no punishment—nothing.
However, if a girl has run away and her motive is to escape domestic violence, security forces, on the contrary, will try to help in capturing her and handing her over to those from whom she was trying to escape.
You also write about driving women to suicide. What are the signs that this crime is being identified?
"Sometimes, instead of an 'honor killing,' they push a girl to commit suicide. They tell the woman: 'You've already been caught, you have no chance, commit suicide.' And then they might say she was sick."
Driving someone to suicide is, you could say, a gray area. I once visited a village where a girl had recently hanged herself. And no one there looked for a reason or motive.
There was a high-profile case in Ingushetia that resulted in neither an investigation nor a conviction. Leila D., according to Ingush residents, took her own life. Her father eventually admitted that he had threatened his daughter after noticing her unhealthy lifestyle. Through threats and pressure, he drove her to suicide.
There are many such examples, but they simply don't receive an autopsy or a detailed investigation. As in the case of Madina Umaeva— statedThat she simply died. And that's all. All of this taken together reveals a complex and, in many ways, hopeless situation for women.
Helping victims of domestic violence in the Caucasus is also becoming increasingly dangerous. When did this start, and where is this trend heading?
"Openly defending women and helping them is actually dangerous. We see how those who champion women's rights are persecuted. Organizations that do this are becoming targets for the state. They are designated as foreign agents, and their work is hindered. Human rights defenders are facing criminal charges, being expelled from the country, and forced to emigrate. Their work is becoming increasingly difficult."
In 2016 my first one came out research Regarding FGM—about the circumcision of girls in the Caucasus. There were threats back then, but they weren't systematic. They came from religious fanatics, representatives of communities that practice circumcision. Patriarchal leaders tried to contact my husband and deal with him, since they don't perceive women as subjects.
After the release of the report on "honor killings," the situation deteriorated sharply. It touched on a topic that displeased even more dangerous individuals. They began following me, and they called my colleagues in Moscow. We decided to make it public so that the threatening people would understand that if anything happened, everyone would know who the culprit was. This cooled the ardor of the threats. Most likely, they came from the Department of Religious Affairs of one of the regions.
After the circumcision investigation, law enforcement launched an investigation, not based on the report, but against you? How did it turn out?
The investigation concerned the report's authors, those who directly conducted the field research. We were interviewed. Then I filed a complaint with the Investigative Committee asking them to inspect the Moscow clinic where female genital mutilations were performed. But the investigators weren't interested. Once the facts emerged, they vanished.
Six months later, the Ingush case occurred. on the circumcision of a nine-year-old girlThis is the only case in Russia regarding this issue. The Moscow clinic continues to operate, but the service has been removed from the website.
― Has it become easier for women themselves to learn about their rights and find help?
"Yes, it's improved in terms of information dissemination. In 2013, most girls in the Caucasus didn't know where to go and couldn't plan their own evacuation. They acted impulsively and made mistakes."
Now women see successful cases, and a way out. They have someone to turn to if they want to escape violence and traditional restrictions on freedom. Public groups of support projects offer advice on how to reduce the risks of escaping, as well as where and how to travel. Social media and media information work together.
But this does not change the fact that by helping them, human rights defenders put themselves at risk.
You're often cited in the media when it comes to gender-based violence in the Caucasus; you're one of the few who's seriously researched this topic. Will you continue to do so?
"These days, opportunities are fewer; I have less access to fieldwork. But I will certainly continue: I've dedicated more than 10 years of my life to this."
I already receive threats regularly: at least once a year or after every publication of a report or serious article. They can message me privately or in the comments.
When a girl flees the Caucasus, her relatives start looking for which prominent human rights activist helped her. But what does that have to do with us if the girl was unhappy at home? You're looking for problems at home.
Author: Lydia Mikhalchenko
* The publication is recognized as a foreign agent.
