Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya Mansur Soltaev published a video of a conversation with 20-year-old Selima Ismailova, who was returned to Grozny after trying to flee her home to Germany because of domestic violence. “You don’t have any problems, do you?” Soltaev asks the girl. She replies: «No.»
«You're not in danger, are you? You are among your relatives, you are in a loving family. You don't have any problems, do you? Are you free to go outside, come in? You can go to the store, you can take a walk, but you don’t have any problems? Are there any problems with the restrictions on your movement?” the Ombudsman asks in the video. Ismailova shakes her head in response and periodically says only “no” or “yes”.
As noted by representatives of the SK SOS crisis group in a conversation with Kavkaz.Realii, recording such videos after the return of runaway girls to their families is a common practice. “Here, the only thing we see is that Selima is alive. All other statements about happiness in the family circle, a request to leave her alone are standard,” human rights activists added.
In mid-June, the security forces detained Ismailova at Moscow's Vnukovo airport — she ran away from home in March and planned to send her to Germany, since, according to her, her father regularly used violence against her. The formal reason for the detention was the fact that the girl was wanted in the case of theft (part 2 of article 158 of the Criminal Code).
The SOS Crisis Group published a recording in which a man, speaking Chechen, threatens his daughter with violence . Human rights activists claimed that the voice belonged to the father of the escaped Chechen woman. “You won’t even lift your head up, I’ll break your back. Know this, you have already brought me down, ”the man said.
Despite this, on June 13, Ismailova was put on a plane flying from Moscow to Grozny.
The girl was born in Chechnya. When she was 12, her family moved to Germany. She complained about her father's abuse and even contacted the Youth Welfare Office, talking about problems in the family, but later retracted her words under pressure from her mother. In 2021, the family returned to Chechnya again, and her father continued to beat and threaten her.