The circumstances of Muzaeva's disappearance are sufficient to verify the threat to her life.

The combination of circumstances surrounding Zukhra Muzaeva's disappearance—her sudden disappearance, lack of contact, and conflicting explanations from relatives—provides sufficient grounds to investigate the threat to her life. Cases of “honor killings” in Chechnya are extremely difficult to document, and requests to investigate such crimes often end in refusal to open a criminal case.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, 25-year-old Zukhra Muzayeva, a mother of three daughters and a resident of the Chechen village of Kurchaloy, disappeared in April 2026. According to the Freedom (Not) Around the Corner project, citing the girl's acquaintances, she may have been killed by her own father, suspected of cheating on her husband, who is participating in a military operation in Ukraine. According to the project's interlocutors, her father first shaved her head, then forced her to dig a grave and shot her. When asked by human rights activists about Zukhra's fate, her father answered by phone that she "Alive and well" and is abroad. The girl's relatives have not explained to friends where she disappeared. "Honor killings" are a cruel, archaic, and illegal tradition, some social media users pointed out, commenting on reports of Muzayeva's possible murder. Some users questioned Muzayeva's death, as there is no documentary evidence of it.

Russian legislation allows for the recording of Information about a murder, even from indirect witnesses and acquaintances—not just from relatives, Mickey Arapiev, a lawyer with the Moscow Bar Association, told the Caucasian Knot.

"Any information about a possible murder is grounds for conducting a procedural investigation. A statement can be filed by a human rights activist, an acquaintance, or anyone with information. It can be sent to the territorial investigative department, the prosecutor's office, the central office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, or the Prosecutor General's Office—especially if there are concerns that the investigation at the local level will not be independent," Arapiev said.

He emphasized that a statement in itself does not guarantee the initiation of a criminal case.

"As a rule, a pre-investigation check is first conducted under Articles 144–145 of the Criminal Procedure Code. For it to be effective, the statement must include in as much detail as possible the source of information, the circumstances of the alleged crime, possible witnesses, the alleged burial site, and information about "persons who could have been involved," he noted.

The lawyer cited the systemic secrecy surrounding such crimes as the main obstacle to investigating honor killings in Chechnya.

"Relatives officially report that the woman has left or is not in contact of her own free will. Witnesses remain silent out of fear—of her family, of local authorities. There is no body, no medical records, and the death has not been registered. Without a minimum set of objective data, it is extremely difficult to achieve an active investigation," Arapiyev explained.

According to him, exhumation in Russia is possible both within the framework of an initiated criminal case and during a procedural review—if there are sufficient grounds to believe that the death was criminal in nature.

"If witnesses indicate a specific burial site, lawyers and human rights activists can petition for an inspection of the area, a forensic examination, and an exhumation. Formally, the law does not prohibit this even without consent." relatives. But without a criminal case, achieving such action in practice is extremely difficult,” he said.

The lawyer is not aware of any publicly known cases of exhumation in cases of alleged honor killings in Chechnya.

“Such cases most likely simply do not exist – due to the lack of officially registered statements, the fear of witnesses, and the closed nature of such family stories. Russian legislation allows for the investigation of such crimes. But the actual implementation of these mechanisms depends entirely on the willingness of investigative bodies to conduct a full investigation,” Arapiyev noted.

A sudden disappearance, lack of contact, no confirmation of travel abroad, conflicting statements from relatives, witness reports of possible violence – all of this taken together can be considered grounds for investigating a threat to a person’s life and health.

Zukhra’s father’s statement that she is “alive and well” and The fact that a person is abroad, in the absence of any confirmation, is not in itself proof of a crime, but when combined with other circumstances, it gives cause for concern, the lawyer believes.

"A sudden disappearance, lack of contact, no confirmation of travel abroad, conflicting statements from relatives, witness reports of possible violence—all of this taken together can be considered grounds for investigating a threat to a person's life and health. Until the facts are established, it cannot be said that this is a case of murder. However, the existence of serious concerns in such a situation is legally justified," he emphasized.

Gannushkina* pointed out the difficulties of investigating "honor killings" in Chechnya

Cases of "honor killings" in the North Caucasus are difficult to record, especially in Chechnya, Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee*, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Cases of "honor killings" are difficult to record in the North Caucasus, and especially in Chechnya. Ingushetia probably ranks second. Once, in a less brutal case—the separation of children from their mother—the usually cooperative head of Ingushetia refused to help me. He simply explained to me that "his family lives there." "In Chechnya, the head of the village himself considers this the norm," Gannushkina* said.

According to her, requests to investigate such cases do not always result in criminal cases being opened.

"In one case, when I requested a murder investigation, I received an official response stating that there were no grounds for opening a criminal case. However, it is known that the girl 'left home and never returned.' And this despite the fact that the entire village saw her body," the human rights activist said.

When a person goes missing, the law requires that the theory of murder be investigated, Gannushkina* emphasized.

"In general, when a person goes missing, the law requires a criminal case to be opened and investigated under Article 105—murder. Everyone remembers the murder case where the victim's mother was forced to apologize on television for her police report. She apologized to Kadyrov, who stated that the murdered woman "should have clung to this marriage," the human rights activist concluded.

In 2020, after the death of Gudermes resident Madina Umayeva, her mother publicly apologized to Ramzan Kadyrov for the domestic violence theory; later, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasus Federal District recommended that Chechen investigators reverse their refusal to open a case and conduct additional investigations.

Another native of Chechnya, Aishat Baimuradova, was killed in Yerevan in October 2025. Human rights activists have assessed her death as an honor killing: the girl fled the republic due to threats from relatives and domestic violence.

Suspects Karina Iminova and Said-Khamzat Baysarov left Armenia on the night of the murder and fled to Russia. The Investigative Committee of Armenia requested Russia's assistance in the investigation in mid-December 2025, but almost two months later, it has still not received a response. The suspects have been placed on the Interpol wanted list—the Armenian side sent a diffusion, which is a less formal instrument than a "red notice." The Armenian Investigative Committee also established that Baysarov and Iminova acted on instructions from an unidentified person.

Later, profiles of both suspects appeared on the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs website. Iminova is wanted not only for criminal charges but also as a missing person—presumably, someone close to her also filed a missing person's report with the authorities. The specific criminal charge under which the search was declared and when the Russian side initiated it have not been disclosed.

The cause of Baymuradova's death remains officially undetermined: investigators are suggesting mechanical strangulation, while earlier sources had suggested poisoning. Signs of blunt force trauma and a thermal burn were found on her body. Ayshat Baimuradova was buried in Yerevan only in March 2026—at the expense of the Armenian state, since her relatives never contacted the investigation.

* added to the Russian Ministry of Justice's register of foreign agents.

** Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.