Mankieva asked for state protection

Aina Mankieva, a native of Ingushetia, filed a complaint alleging domestic violence, including sexual violence. She requested that she not be handed over to her relatives and that she be provided with state protection. As reported by the Caucasian Knot, Aina Mankieva from Ingushetia was detained by police in Moscow. Security forces refused to allow Aina's lawyer to see her, human rights activists reported on the night of January 15. Mankieva remains in police custody; in addition to Interior Ministry officers, she was questioned by representatives of the Center for Combating Extremism. Human rights activists have called the risk high that a girl who fled domestic violence will be placed in a temporary detention facility and then sent to Ingushetia.

Aina Mankieva filed a police report requesting criminal proceedings against her relatives. "I request that a criminal case be opened against my relatives, who have repeatedly used violence against me, and I have been raped on numerous occasions, putting my life in danger. I request state protection and that I not be handed over to my relatives," the girl wrote in a statement published by the human rights group "Marem."

She also called her relatives' theft claim false. "I also want to report my mother's deliberately false accusation about the alleged "krai,"" the statement reads.

A case against Mankieva, based on her mother's report, was opened on August 6, 2025. The girl's mother reported to the police that Aina had stolen 20,000 rubles from her. Aina was placed on the wanted list in early 2026, the human rights group writes.

The journalists were detained near the police station where Aina Mankieva is being held. They are currently being taken to the station for an identity check, according to Ksenia Sobchak's Telegram channel. The department's officers were concerned that a "group of citizens with unknown goals" had gathered outside.

"It is possible that this decision is connected to the fact that they want to hand Aina over to Ingush police officers quietly, but don't want to do it in front of cameras," wrote the SOS* Crisis Group.

Police officers from Ingushetia are already preparing to fly to Moscow to pick up Aina Mankieva, according to "Beware, News."

Mankieva said that her family belongs to the Batalkhadzhin vird and expressed fears that the entire vird would search for her. "The vird practices strict control and treatment of children, early marriage for girls (from age 13), and rarely allows girls to complete education even to the ninth grade," Marem quotes her as saying.

According to her, her brother threatened her with sexual violence. "My brother said that when I get married and my husband isn't home, he'll come to me," human rights activists quote the girl as saying.

"Ayna was afraid to resist the violence for fear of reprisals. And now it's crucial for us to prevent her from returning! We don't understand why the police are detaining journalists and concerned people who came to the station. We hope that in the future, law enforcement will protect Ayna and not hinder those who want to help her," the human rights activists noted.

As a reminder, Ayna's father was previously arrested in connection with the sale of a child. 1 . Ayna herself is visually impaired, and she "was subjected to violence in her family since childhood," the human rights activists added. They are convinced that the theft case, which was "discovered" only eight months later, was fabricated to bring the girl home. Seda Suleimanova was similarly accused of theft, "but the criminal case disappeared as soon as she arrived in the republic."

Seda Suleimanova, a native of Chechnya, was detained in St. Petersburg in August 2023 and taken against her will to live with relatives in Chechnya. There has been no news from her since. Her friends and human rights activists have received information that she was the victim of a so-called "honor killing." In April 2024, it became known that the Investigative Committee was investigating the girl's disappearance under the article on murder, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "The Abduction of Seda Suleimanova".

The problem of domestic violence in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya affects women of all ages, but it is primarily young women under 30 who try to escape it, human rights activists from the Ad Rem team noted in their report. The problem of evacuating victims of domestic violence is most acute in these regions, as authorities and security forces there side with domestic abusers. In June 2023, the BBC released the documentary "When I Escaped" about women from the North Caucasus who managed to escape from the control of their families. For victims of domestic violence, escape often becomes the only option to save their lives, human rights activists emphasized.

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