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.
Nalchik resident Timur Zhambekov claims he was tortured by security forces in 2017 and subsequently convicted of a crime he confessed to under duress. The "Team Against Torture" notes that since then, the Investigative Committee has refused to open a criminal case for torture 34 times.
Zhambekov claims he was beaten at the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Internal Affairs and forced to confess to theft. He claims he received approximately 30 blows to the head and over a hundred blows to the body. A medical examination confirmed bodily injuries, including a broken rib.
Despite this, and an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in 2021, no investigation into the torture has been conducted. Zhambekov has already served a five-year prison sentence, and the necessary investigations into his case have not been completed.