Two rival law enforcement agencies clashed on weekend over an incident in western Russia where two female teenagers viciously beat up a third girl on camera and posted the video online.
Local prosecutors closed the case against the two suspects on Saturday over unspecified “procedural violations,” but the Investigative Committee denounced the decision on Sunday and demanded to reopen the case.
The incident took place in late March in the town of Gusev in Kaliningrad region, Russia’s western exclave. A video that appeared online shows a girl repeatedly kicking another teenager in the head, while a third girl is holding the victim by the hair.
Male laughter can be heard off-screen in the video, shot with a cellphone. The attacker threatens to beat up the victim “until she croaks” and complains of injuring an elbow on the beaten girl’s tooth.
The victim, identified as Yelena Sukhorukova, 16, managed to escape and was hospitalized, local news website Klops.ru reported.
The attacker told Rusnovosti.ru earlier this month that she was punishing Sukhorukova for badmouthing her family. She did not elaborate.
Local police refused to open a case, saying both abusers were less than 14 years old when the incident happened and therefore too young to be charged.
The decision was upheld by regional prosecutors, which, however, said the girls were 15, but still could not be charged over violations made during procession of the case. They did not elaborate. The reports about the girls’ age could not be immediately reconciled.
Dozens of locals rallied in Gusev on Sunday, demanding to punish Sukhorukova’s abusers, Rusnovosti.ru reported. Their demand was reiterated by Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin, who said his agency is ready to complain to Russia’s Prosecutor General if the case would not be reopened. The prosecutors did not comment as of Sunday afternoon.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee waged a heated turf war after the two agencies, previously part of one organization, were separated by the Kremlin in 2011. The conflict gradually receded from public spotlight after the Kremlin chided both agencies for the spat.
The Investigative Committee said one of its officials in Kaliningrad region received threats from unspecified people who demanded to remove allegations against local police in Sukhorukova’s case from the agency’s website. A separate case was opened over the threats on Sunday.
