D There are useful small refrigerator compartments in the morgue Jerewan. Only official investigators are allowed to open the iron door and go inside. Nobody cries for the dead who lie in this place in the Armenian capital. No mourner has ever spoken her name aloud.
In one of these compartments lies the body of Aishat Baimuradova from Chechnya. More than three months have passed since the brutal murder of the 23-year-old woman in Yerevan. Aishat’s body remains in the mortuary and Armenian law enforcement authorities are not allowing her burial.
After the murder and the discovery of the body, Armenian authorities had inquiries Chechnya sent to locate the family of the murdered Aishat Baimuradova and hand over her body. But the questions remained unanswered. Nobody wants Aishat.
Aishat Baimuradova was with the help of SK SOS crisis center fled from Chechnya to Armenia. According to human rights activists, she was subjected to physical and sexual violence from her father and grandfather since she was four years old. She was later forced to marry against her will.
Escape without ever arriving
So far, only a few details are known about Aishat’s murder. Armenian law enforcement authorities have named two people as suspects: a woman from Kyrgyzstan and a man from Chechnya. The two had come from the apartment where the young woman’s body was found. It is said that the suspects left Armenia a few days after the murder. Human rights activists speak of a “Honor killing“, a widespread practice in the Caucasus.
Aishat had submitted an application to the German embassy, but it was rejected.
Aishat is not the only Chechen woman who came to Armenia. Women fleeing domestic violence in particular end up in Armenia because there is no visa procedure for holders of Russian passports. As a rule, these women move to another country after a short period of time to live there temporarily or permanently. Aishat had one at the German embassy Application which was however rejected.
Formally, the Republic of Armenia was not obliged to ensure the Chechen woman’s safety, as Aishat Baimuradova had not applied for asylum or other protective status in Armenia. Russian human rights groups suspect that Armenian law enforcement authorities are treating this murder with some leniency and will hand the matter over to their Russian counterparts after some time.
Nobody knows when the small iron door of Yerevan’s mortuary will open next. The woman will probably be buried as an unclaimed body in Armenia. The city authorities will bury her – quietly, without tears, flowers or prayers. And without any attention.
Sona Martirosyan is a journalist and lives in Yerevan (Armenia). She was a participant in one Eastern Europe workshops by the taz Panter Foundation.
From Armenian by Tigran Petrosyan.
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