Dagestani native complains about death threats for refusing to live with her parents

A 22-year-old female native of Dagestan faced psychological abuse in her parents’ family and got death threats from her relatives after she had fled to another city.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2020, human rights defenders called the situation with women’s rights in Northern Caucasus critical. Local traditions are conducive to violence against women in families, and the authorities consider assault by a husband to be a part of routine.

In recent months, Milana Magomedova has twice fled from her parents from Tyumen – to Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg – because of conflicts with them. According to the young woman’s story, her parents forbade her to work as a cashier or a waiter, scolded her for clothes, and forbade her to communicate with male friends.

When Milana was 17 years old, her parents found her a fiancé. They were forcing the daughter to marry him. In January, Milana fled to Saint Petersburg, but her parents found her and “seized from her all her belongings and documents, staged a showdown,” and accused her of “dishonouring the family.”

“They told me: ‘We have done well with you … Others would have stabbed you on the spot, but we are giving you a second chance!’,” Milana said.

On February 10, the young woman fled for the second time “without passport and almost without belongings.” She left for Chelyabinsk and then for Yekaterinburg. “I am afraid for my life, because when I get a job and my parents find out where I work, they can watch me and kidnap me or stab me with a knife,” Milana expressed her fear.