Chechen investigators recommended finding causes of Madina Umaeva's death

The Chief Investigating Department for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) recommended to review the refusal to institute a case on the death of Madina Umaeva, a resident of Gudermes, but did not question the unbiased approach of Chechen investigators.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the sudden death of the young woman in Gudermes and her funeral held at night provoked a wide public response in Chechnya. In social networks, users disseminated versions stating that Madina Umaeva fell victim to domestic violence. The mother of Madina Umaeva succeeded in seeking the exhumation of her daughter's body. However, the leader of Chechnya did not wait for the results of the forensic examination, met relatives of the deceased young woman, and her mother apologized for the claim about the violent death of her daughter. In early July, human rights defenders from Russia and other countries appealed to Alexander Bastrykin, the chief of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a request to transfer case materials about the Madina Umaeva's death from the jurisdiction of the Chechen investigators and take the case under personal control.

The Chief Investigating Department for the NCFD recommended their colleagues in Chechnya to cancel the decision from July 21 on the refusal to institute a criminal case on the Madina Umaeva's death. Furthermore, the ICRF's Investigating Department for Chechnya was given recommendations concerning what other verification measures should be carried out in connection with the request of the human rights defenders.

Meanwhile, the Chief Investigating Department for the NCFD decided not to take the case materials about the Madina Umaeva's death away from Chechnya. "There is no reason to suggest that employees of the apparatus and territorial units of the ICRF's Investigating Department for the Chechen Republic are personally, directly or indirectly, interested in the outcome of the procedural check," notes the answer from the Chief Investigating Department for the NCFD addressed to Svetlana Gannushkina in response to her request. The letter from the Chief Investigating Department for the NCFD, posted today on the website of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is dated August 11.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 18, 2020 at 05:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.