Four local residents convicted on the case of rape of an underage in Kabardino-Balkaria

Three residents of Chegem district of Kabardino-Balkaria accused of gang rape of a fourteen-year-old girl from Kursk region in the settlement of Nartan were sentenced to custody terms of 4,5 to 9 years of custody by the Supreme Court of the republic, a representative of regional Department of Committee of Inquiry of Russia (CIR) reported.

The history of protracted gang rape of a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl in the settlement of Nartan that became public in July of 2011 evoked widespread responses in the republic. There were over 15 suspects on the case. On July, 19, 2011, the investigators brought a charge against three residents of the settlement. In November of 2011 already six persons were arrested on the case. In June of 2012 a criminal case against three suspects was referred to the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria.

A charge according to clause “rape of an underage by a group of persons by previous concert” was brought against all the three defendants.

According to a representative of the republican Department of CIR, the court agreed with the arguments and qualification of the defendants’ actions and sentenced one of them to nine years of custody and another to eight years.

The third defendant was sentenced to 4,5 years of imprisonment. The court took into consideration that at the moment of committing the crime he was underage.

This May a case against one of the defendants, a resident of Natran aged 19, separated as a special proceeding was referred to the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria. The investigation also incriminated him rape and attempted rape of an underage. In July the court sentenced him to 8,5 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony, RIA “Novosti” reports.

According to Chegem district Department of Interior Affairs, four of those identified and interrogated, the eldest aged 20 and the youngest 17, denied using violence against the girl. However, according to Azamat Semenov, Senior Investigator of Investigative Department of CIR in Kabardino-Balkaria, medical examination found bodily injuries, i.e. hurts and bruises, on the girl’s body.