Beating means love?

The most egregious cases of domestic violence occur in the regions of the country. Experts connect this with a low awareness of women in the regions about their rights. The legislation of Azerbaijan protects women from domestic violence, but only on paper; in practice, unfortunately, it does not work. The police often do not act on complaints, and women are too shy complain.

"Mentality does not allow our women to appeal to police against a husband, it is considered shameful. And if a woman complains, the police often takes the side of a man. Just because the policeman himself is also a man," said psychologist Azad Isazadeh at a seminar on the topic of domestic violence.

Lawyer Rovshan Rahimli, in addition to articles of local legislation on domestic violence, the history of the development of the women's rights movement, touched upon the reasons and ways to protect him from it.

"There is no need to say whether the topic of domestic violence is relevant in our society. However, violence against women exists in developed societies. In developed European countries, 60-70% of the total number of complaints to the police are women's complaints, as victims of domestic violence. We have no statistics at all, and if it is, we cannot get data on violence since 2012. However, even with statistics, it is unlikely that it is transparent, because most women do not go to the police. In Azerbaijan, even judges try not to issue a warrant for protection (it is given out to the victim that her pursuer cannot approach her a certain distance), because this will get into international reports and worsen the image of our country," Rahimli said.

However, according to the lawyer, responsibility lies not only on the state, but also on society.

"If the society is vigilant and calls the police every time a woman is beaten on the street, in cases of harassment, the state will have to be more responsible, the police will not look at it through their fingers," she said. Rahimli explained that such domestic violence and gave examples from local practice.

"Domestic violence is the infliction of damage to a person in others in order to keep him under control. A distinctive feature of domestic violence from other types of violence is that it is systematic. I want to make a reservation that domestic violence occurs not only between husband and wife. Often this happens between other family members. A few years ago there was a blatant incident in the Shemakha region. A young girl"s mother died, and the father married a second time. The second wife born him a son. For many years, the girl was forced to work around the house from the very beginning. At the age of 3-4 she dragged water, firewood, performed the hardest work. In addition, the girl was beaten every day by her brother and stepmother. Once the half-brother told the girl that if disobedient, he would sell her to a mullah for a religious marriage. The girl, who at that time was 17 years old, was frightened and ran away from home in Baku with several manats in her pocket. The relatives turned to the police and the girl was put on the wanted list. She spent the night in parks and two days later she was found by the police. The girl begged the police not to be returned her home, her life was in danger. However, the police began to shame her, saying that a decent girl from the house will not run away, and eventually returned her home. The same night her brother cut off her head," the lawyer said.

According to her, society often faces a situation where a battered woman finds the strength and turns to the police, police instead of support, begins to condemn her.

"Every day we face cases in which there are such elements of torture that even Hollywood directors will not even think of. I want to give examples of husband's abuse of his wife. In Nakhchivan, an educated man, during an argue with his wife cut the tip of her tongue with scissors, and extinguished his cigarettes on her tongue. In another case, which occurred in Shemakha, the husband bound his wife in a bath, lit a nylon woolcloth and dripped caprone on her body, thereby causing her terrible suffering. Both men received very lightly punished, inadequate to perfect deeds. Mentality and informal order also played its role, in order not to spoil the statistics. This impunity generates new similar cases," R. Rahimli noted.

Psychologist Azad Isazadeh said that women do not often appeal to crisis centers and police; it happens only in Baku and Ganja. Women from regions appeal to police only in such egregious cases that it is already impossible to remain silent and conceal: causing serious bodily harm, killing a child, interrupting pregnancy, etc.

"We keep silence about beatings. Many women think that beating is normal, as she has seen it since childhood: her grandmothers, mother, have beaten her. So do men," he said.

The psychologist explained the reasons and ways to avoid domestic violence: "The decisive is the first slap in the face. If to be silent, then it will continue in a more rigid form. We need resistance." He touched upon the role of society and the victim's family.

"The police in most cases do not help the victims. Often, instead of supporting them the first word is: "Are you not ashamed to speak against your husband?". Because he himself is primarily a man. However, the main culprits of the fact that a woman withdraws her application, if it is still written, are her father and brother, who state that the application is dishonorable. "

Isazade, advised to apply to police, lawyers and psychologists in case of domestic violence, and to seek punishment for the guilty, because his life can be at stake. -0-