HRC "Memorial": investigators fail to open case after beating teenagers in Chechnya

Investigators have refused to institute criminal proceedings after a release of a video showing the beating of teenagers in Chechnya and referred to the absence of the event of a crime, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2017, the rights defenders made public the information about the beating of teenagers by Chechen law enforcers. The law enforcers forced teenagers from the Cossack village of Starogladovskaya to apologize in front of a camera to residents of the Ilaskhan-Yurt village, with whom the young people had a quarrel, reported the HRC "Memorial". The rights defenders appealed to the Prosecutor's Office.

According to the HRC "Memorial", the rights defenders got a response to an appeal about the beating and humiliation of the teenagers by law enforcers.

"The letter reports about an inspection carried out at a request of the HRC 'Memorial'. Following its results, on January 14, 2018, investigators issued a resolution to refuse to institute a criminal case in connection with the absence of the event of a crime. That is, no beating and insults of the teenagers committed by some people in camouflage and recorded on video did not allegedly occur," reports a release of the HRC "Memorial" got by the "Caucasian Knot" today.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.