After working with Zaira Pirova, the SK SOS Crisis Group* has to change shelter

During the stay at the shelter of Zaira Pirova, who later left for Georgia and from there returned to Dagestan to her relatives, unknown people tried to enter the shelter for violence victims. The SK SOS Crisis Group* changed the address of the shelter; since human rights defenders found it useless to turn to the police.

Earlier in January, the SK SOS Crisis Group* reported that Zaira Pirova had left for Georgia due to forced marriage and pressure from her family, but her relatives were trying to find her. After talking with her family, she decided to return home, saying that she wanted to "establish trusting relationships" with her family.

As it became known, In late last December, outsiders tried to break into the shelter for fugitives from Northern Caucasus organized by human rights defenders in Moscow. According to the Crisis Group*, several men knocked on the door and then tried to pick the lock. At that moment, three SK SOS* clients were in the shelter; all of them were relocated to other places within 24 hours. Zaira Pirova was one of them.

Alexandra Miroshnikova, the press secretary of the SK SOS*, has reported that another girl, who was with Zaira at the time of the attack, has now left Russia.

"We can assume that the attack on the shelter had to do with Zaira and was initiated by her relatives ... But the other two girls were also at high risk. They could also have been stalkers who aimed to find these girls, and not Zaira," Alexandra has added.

Victoria Odissonova, the PR Director of the "No to Violence" Centre, has noted that the coordinators of the shelter for victims of domestic violence monitor the compliance with safety rules, said. She said that the Centre also has an SOS placement programme, which only operates in Moscow; and there have been no situations threatening the lives of those kept there yet. However, she has noted that there is always a persecution risk for violence victims.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.