Rights defenders see a precedent in ECtHR's decision in case of a rape victim in Dagestan

The decision pronounced by the Strasbourg Court in the case on repeated gang rape of a girl from Dagestan should push the Russian authorities to improve the mechanism for investigating sexual crimes, believe female rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 20, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) supported the resident of Dagestan, who filed a complaint about the ineffective investigation into the case of her repeated group rape. The young woman was awarded the compensation for moral damage in the amount of 18,000 euros and the compensation for legal costs in the amount of 12,585 euros.

The decision made by the ECtHR in the case of the girl from Dagestan is an important precedent for Northern Caucasus, believes Olga Gnezdilova, the director of the "Legal Initiative".

The rights defender has noted that the courses of investigations into rape cases are often incorrect.

"To achieve serious changes in the investigation into such cases, it is necessary to take comprehensive measures: introduce special training for investigators, improve the victim's protection system, and provide the psychological and legal assistance to a victim at the state's expense. I hope that the decision pronounced by the ECtHR will push the authorities to the above measures," stated Olga Gnezdilova.

In Northern Caucasus, crimes related to sexual violence are hushed up even harder than in the rest of the world, noted Svetlana Anokhina, a Dagestani journalist and rights defender. "This is not only a problem of Northern Caucasus. It is very difficult for women all over the world to decide to complain about rape, but at our place, that is aggravated by the specifics of the region. Everyone knows each other, and marks of 'raped' will still hang on a woman," Svetlana Anokhina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Not only the surrounding people, but rape victims themselves tend to blame themselves for what had happened, Svetlana Anokhina noted.

"It seems to women that they themselves are to be blamed for what had happened, and our society supports the idea that the 'stain' is not on a rapist, but on a victim. I know another case, an old one, when in a village several guys from an influential family raped a girl. The story became known, since [rapists] made a video record. The girl's family members, her brothers, faced a dilemma: they had to do something, but they could not fight with the rapists, there was little hope for the law, and at home they had a sister with a 'stained reputation.' The girl was killed, and they turned everything so that they looked like defenders of the 'family honour,' who punished the sister who 'made a false step'," the journalist reported.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 23, 2018 at 06:24 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.