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 Human Rights Commissioner of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Boris Zumakulov received a complaint from six local residents. They reported that in mid-May, SIM cards and phones were planted on their relatives during searches, and the criminal case on organizing the activities of a terrorist organization was fabricated.
Earlier, security forces detained 16 people in Nalchik and Nartkala. All of them were practicing Muslims. According to investigators, they organized a terrorist community, including for the purpose of encroaching on law enforcement officers and government agencies.
The authors of the complaint said that physical force was used against some of the detainees. A sawed-off shotgun, rifles, traumatic and air pistols, for which there was a permit, were found in the suspects' homes.