A resident of Dagestan accused a police officer of beating her.

Investigators in Makhachkala refused to conduct an investigation into the complaint of Gözal Umalatova, who reported violence by a police officer. The officer himself accused Umalatova of insults and threats.

A criminal case has been initiated against 39-year-old Gözal Umalatova from Makhachkala under articles for publicly insulting a representative of the authorities (Article 319 of the Criminal Code) and threatening to use violence dangerous to life and health against a representative of the authorities (Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The first article provides for up to one year of corrective labor, the second – up to ten years of imprisonment.

The woman, who turned to human rights defenders, claims that an Interior Ministry officer beat her and dragged her across the ground to the car in front of her children after she refused to go to the department. According to Umalatova, the incident occurred back in late June: an old armchair burned in the common yard of the apartment building, and the fire damaged the window of her neighbor Gadzhimurad on the first floor. The woman was not at home during the fire – upon returning from the market, she only saw its aftermath, reported the "Team Against Torture".

In the evening, Umalatova was at home with her two children and a seven-year-old son of a friend she was babysitting. The woman was preparing dinner when her neighbor Gadzhimurad and a police officer knocked on her door.

"He began to demand that I follow him to the police station to clarify the fact of the arson of the armchair. I replied that I had not set anything on fire, that I could not leave the children alone at home. After that, I went to the kitchen, continuing to prepare dinner," the woman's words are quoted on the organization's website.

The officer continued to knock insistently on the door. At some point, the door was opened by the seven-year-old boy, who thought his mother had come for him. The police officer began to demand that Umalatova go with him.

"He stepped into the hallway, grabbed me by the arms, and threw me against the wall. I began to show him my disability certificate and explained that I could not be taken to the police station," she recounted.

Later, another Interior Ministry officer entered Gözal's apartment. The woman, who was preparing dinner, admits that at one point she held a kitchen knife to her neck and demanded that the officers leave the apartment, threatening to hurt herself.

"The police officer rushed at me and snatched the knife from my hand, the knife scratched my skin on my neck. In the end, he dragged me outside, pulling me across the ground, and placed me in the back compartment of a UAZ vehicle," she claims.

The woman spent about a day in the police department while her frightened children were looked after by her older adult son and sick mother. No charges were brought against her. After her release from the department, medical workers recorded bruises and abrasions on her body. Although Umalatova turned to the Investigative Committee, they did not conduct an investigation into her complaint, according to the publication of KPP*.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that lawyer Zaur Kaituyev from the Makhachkala Bar Association, who was beaten in June 2025 near the building of one of the law enforcement agencies, complained to the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin about the delay in the investigation and serious pressure on him and his relatives.

* included by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.