Woman from Ingushetia claims she was beaten because of her nationality

Marina Nasirova, a resident of Ingushetia and a Chechen by her origin, said she was beaten because of her nationality.

According to her story, on January 7, a 14-year-old Chechen girl came into a beauty salon, located in the marketplace in Nazran, where Nasirova works, and said that she was molested by young men.

"I came out of the salon and saw a lying guy at the front door. Nearby, there stood a group of aggressive young men. I took up the victim and brought him in. The young men tried to go into the salon, but I blocked their way. One of them said that he was an Ingush; he was at home there and would go where and when he wanted," said Marina Nasirova.

Then, according to Nasirova, the young man asked about her nationality; and when he learned that she was a Chechen, "he delivered several punches to her face." She lost consciousness and was later taken to hospital: she had her eyebrow cut and her nose bleeding and broken.

Later, Nasirova turned for help to the Ombudsman in Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev.

The latter insists that the incident should be investigated as a crime motivated by ethnic hatred; while his Ingush counterpart – Ombudsman Djambulat Ozdoev – believes that it was just a domestic quarrel.