Disabled woman in Dagestan says police officer beat her at home and dragged her to police vehicle

A police officer in Russia’s republic of Dagestan beat a disabled woman after she refused to go with him to the station, according to the human rights group Crew Against Torture.

The incident occurred in late June in Makhachkala, the regional capital, according to Gozel Umalatova, a 39-year-old mother of two. She said the confrontation began after an armchair caught fire in the shared courtyard of her apartment building, damaging a ground-floor window. She was at the market when it happened.

That evening, a police officer and the neighbour whose window had been damaged came to her door. The officer demanded that she come to the station to answer questions about the fire. Umalatova said she did not want to open the door, but a friend’s child who was visiting opened it.

“He [the officer] stepped into the hallway, grabbed my arms and threw me against the wall. I started showing him my disability card and explained that I couldn’t be taken to a police station,” she said.

Umalatova said she tried to fend off the officer’s blows and push him away. She then grabbed a knife and threatened to hurt herself.

“The officer lunged at me and snatched the knife out of my hand. It scratched the skin on my neck,” she said. “In the end, he dragged me along the ground and put me in the back of a police vehicle.”

According to Crew Against Torture, Umalatova spent about 24 hours at the station and was not charged with anything at the time. She was later diagnosed with bruises and abrasions and admitted to the day-care unit of a psychiatric ward.

The Russian Investigative Committee declined to investigate her complaint. Instead, a criminal case was opened against her on charges of publicly insulting and threatening a government official.