Abkhazia

Initially, no criminal case was opened after a judge was pelted with stones.

Two Russians attacked an unidentified Supreme Court judge on 20 September, according to Abkhazian authorities. Initially, no criminal case was opened against the suspects who allegedly pelted the unnamed judge with stones, but after a report from local Telegram channel Aiashara sparked outrage, authorities announced the attack would be treated as a criminal offence.

While the authorities did not name the victim, they confirmed that she was born in 1981 and received medical assistance at the Republican Hospital after the attack. She was treated for a closed head injury, a bruise to the left eye, and a lacerated-contused wound of the upper eyelid.

In a statement, local authorities said the individuals were pelting the judge with ‘blunt objects (presumably stones)’ at 21:00 on Kodorskoe Highway in Sukhumi’s (Sukhum) Turbaza district.

‘Upon arriving at the scene, the operatives detained two citizens temporarily residing in Abkhazia: Bessonov Sergey Vasilievich, born in 2000, a resident of the village of Gorodishchenskaya in the Arkhangelsk region, and Chudin Yuri Ivanovich, born in 1998, registered in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in the Republic of Tatarstan,’ local police said in a statement.

The two suspects, Chudin and Bessonov, refused drug tests and were sentenced to 15 days in administrative detention.

Initially, no criminal case was opened, according to the police’s first report on the matter.

On social media, many were appalled by this decision, with one Telegram user sarcastically saying:  ‘Stoning a woman — and it’s just an administrative offence? Maybe they’ll get a medal if they do it again.’

Another commented, ‘Why on earth did the two of them have to beat up a woman? Have they completely lost their minds? A 15-day sentence wasn’t enough — they should have been locked up for a couple of years.’