Chechen woman reports her escape from domestic violence

Fatima, a native of Chechnya, had to leave Russia due to permanent violence from her husband, to whom she was married at the age of 15. After Fatima run away from home, her husband and father contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and succeeded in having the law enforcement bodies declare Fatima wanted.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that earlier, a wide public outcry has been provoked by a story of Khalimat Taramova, a daughter of a Ramzan Kadyrov’s close associate. According to a human rights defenders’ report, she had to flee because of domestic violence.

Fatima said that when she was fifteen years old, she was married to 30-year-old Umar, whom she barely knew. Fatima was unable to finish school, and at the age of 16, she gave birth to her first child, the “Kosa” publication reported.

The first case of physical violence occurred when Fatima left money on the table when leaving home, so that her husband’s mother could buy bread. When Fatima returned home, her husband’s mother told her that she had not left any money. The young woman began cleaning the house. In a fit of anger, Umar kicked a basin of boiling water, and the hot water splashed on Fatima, severely burning her legs. Later, it turned out that a niece had taken the money, and the husband’s mother apologized to Fatima.

At the age of 16, Fatima gave birth to a child, but he died because he had an infection. Moreover, doctors had discovered the infection during the pregnancy and offered Fatima to undergo medical treatment, but her husband and his mother did not allow that.

A mother of Fatima helped her and bought her household appliances to make it easier for the daughter to do housework. However, the husband forbade Fatima to communicate with her mother. One day, he noticed that Fatima was talking on her mobile phone with her mother. The man beat his wife with a stick, threatening to kill her.

Fatima and Umar gave birth to two children, but their relationship continued to deteriorate. By the time the second child was born, the husband had stopped communicating with Fatima. According to her story, the husband started going out with young women and stopped spending the night at home. One day, Fatima saw Umar talking to a woman through a video call and asking her to take off her clothes. At that moment, Fatima entered the room and saw what was happening. The young woman told her husband that she went to the kitchen to cook a meal and left the room. Umar was offended by the Fatima’s behaviour. The man came after his wife and tried to hit her. At that moment, Fatima was cutting meat, and she had a knife in her hand, with which she accidentally cut an Umar’s finger. The man became even more angry and said that he was throwing his wife out of the house. That was how Fatima left her husband for the first time.

Fatima lived with her aunt for a year and during that time, she learned to be a cook. In the meantime, Umar married another young woman, but she left him three months later.

After the above, Umar began calling Fatima, complaining about his second wife and asking her to come back. Fatima returned to Umar because she was worried about the children who stayed with him. Fatima and Umar lived peacefully for several years and gave birth to their third child.

The family moved to Grozny, and in the new place, the Fatima and Umar’s relationship began to deteriorate. By that time, Fatima had started working part-time and earned about 20,000 roubles a day, but she gave all the money to her husband. Fatima said that she began to wonder if she didn’t deserve more. One day, she had a quarrel with Umar. Fatima brought him tea, but the man said that she had recently started behaving in an unusual way and kicked her in the stomach.

The other morning, Fatima had a severe stomach ache, and the doctors who arrived discovered bleeding in her stomach. Fatima had lost a lot of blood.

After some time, Fatima met her mother, and after meeting her, she came home and saw her husband with a stick in his hands. The husband began to beat her, and in response, Fatima screamed that she was tired of Umar and that she could no longer live with him. On the other day, Fatima left her husband, but returned after being persuaded by her husband’s sister, who told Fatima that her children were permanently crying without the mother.

After that incident, Umar began to lock Fatima at home. However, the young woman contacted human rights defenders and asked them for help. They helped Fatima leave Chechnya. The young woman wrote a statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs asking to remove her from the wanted list. Fatima says she is afraid that if her father and husband find her, they will kill her.