Police in Russia's North Ossetia have launched an inquiry following a campaign of online harassment targeting women through the Telegram channel Kavkazskaya Obshchina ("Caucasian Community"). The channel's administrators published women's personal information, insulted them and issued threats of violence over behaviour they claimed violated Caucasian traditions.
The publication of a photograph in a closed WhatsApp group became the reason for initiating a criminal case on propaganda of extremist symbols against Ruslan Bittuev from the KBR. According to investigators, the family photo shows tattoos in the form of eight-pointed stars, recognized as the symbols of the Prison Criminal Unity criminal movement banned in Russia.
According to the testimony of Ruslan Bittuev, he published the photo of his brother out of emotion after his death and did not plan to distribute extremist materials.
In December 2022, Bittuyev was already fined for showing the same tattoo to those arrested in a pre-trial detention center and to employees of the institution. Now, as part of a criminal case, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria faces a fine of 600 thousand to a million rubles or imprisonment for up to 4 years.