Social media users demanded a government response to the violation of Dzhamilya Garunova's rights.

The prosecutor's office and the human rights ombudsman must ensure the rights of Jamila Garunova, a victim of domestic violence who ended up in a Makhachkala pretrial detention center despite being six months pregnant, social media users have stated.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," pregnant Jamila Garunova has been held in a Khasavyurt pretrial detention center for four months. The prosecution was initiated after Jamila left her husband, who regularly beat her, noted Shamil Khadulaev, head of the Public Monitoring Commission of Dagestan. He compared Garunova's persecution to the case of Anastasia Goisan.

Commentators called for punishment for the perpetrator of domestic violence

A post about pregnant Jamila Garunova being held in the Khasavyurt pretrial detention center for four months was published on June 12 on the Caucasian Knot Facebook page*, which has approximately 162,000 followers. As of 11:30 a.m. Moscow time on June 15, the post had garnered 470 likes and 209 comments.

Some of the comments condemned the violence and demanded punishment for the perpetrator. "It's terrible, is there really nothing that can be done? Put the culprit behind bars and free the poor woman," wrote Alina Alinuska.

"There's no one to stand up for her, so he's enjoying it. He's taking it out on her with his fists," noted Tamara Pak. "This husband should be jailed for attempted murder," declared Galina Dolgosheeva.

Other users expressed bewilderment and a strong emotional reaction. "Horrible! How is this possible? What kind of animals are these?" wrote Nadejda Samoilovich. "What kind of Stone Age is this? They beat a woman and there's no justice?" - noted Galina Alekseyevna.

"Shame! It's beyond belief," said Sholpan Aitimbetova.

Some commentators questioned the fairness of the court decisions. "Do they even follow the law in the courts or what?" asked Victoria Volevach. "Is it really okay to keep a pregnant woman in a pre-trial detention center?" asked Irada Nuriyeva.

Users demanded a response from government agencies. "Where is the human rights representative? Where is the prosecutor's oversight?" asked Zhemel Khairullov. "Where is Bastrykin and the Prosecutor General?" wrote Raf Hairetdinov. "Head of Dagestan, intervene!" urged Natalia Fedotova.

Commentators expressed sympathy for Dzhamila Garunova. "Poor woman," wrote Lyubov Zhmanova. "I feel very sorry for the woman," noted Svetlana Tenner. "Poor girl, may God help her," declared Natalia Kodatskaya.

Garunova's detention in pretrial detention follows a trend of persecuting victims of domestic violence.

Authorities have repeatedly sided with those who have received complaints from victims of domestic violence. In particular, in June 2021, plainclothes law enforcement officers broke into a shelter in Makhachkala. As a result of their actions, Khalimat Taramova was handed over to her relatives, who took her to Chechnya.

Earlier, human rights activists expressed concern that the girl faces murder in Chechnya for "airing dirty laundry in public." Taramova's friend Anna Manylova said that when her father picked her up from the shelter, Taramova threatened suicide. Taramova, the daughter of one of Ramzan Kadyrov's close associates, was forced to flee due to domestic violence. On October 18, 2021, security forces forcibly took two girls from the "Mama's House" crisis center in Kazan after they fled relatives in Dagestan. The girls later contacted authorities, claiming they were doing well and urging them not to look for them. Human rights activists suspected the girls were pressured to make these statements. For a year before fleeing their families, the girls had been asking for help leaving the Caucasus. The girls, who fled relatives in Dagestan and were abducted by security forces from a shelter in Kazan, risk becoming victims of "honor killings" after returning to their husbands, even amid the publicity surrounding the story, according to Caucasian Knot experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot."

Both girls were married off early without their consent and complained of systematic harassment by their husbands and relatives. In particular, 20-year-old A., who has a two-year-old daughter, said her husband regularly beat her, and the father, in response to his daughter's complaint, told her to "go to her husband's house and die there."

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in September 2023, representatives of non-governmental organizations noted that the problem of shelter security remains unresolved, especially in the North Caucasus. The statement follows a ruling by the ECHR, which found violations of the rights of women held in a Makhachkala shelter when security forces removed Chechen native Khalimat Taramova from it.

Russia needs to adopt a special law that would prohibit relatives from approaching victims of violence or returning them to their families with the help of security forces, human rights activists previously interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" noted. The kidnapping of victims of violence by their relatives does not lead to criminal liability for the kidnappers, and authorities prefer to ignore the problem, they noted.

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