The Russian nationalist movement Russkaya Obshchina (Russian Community) has publicly backed Moscow police officers who forcibly removed the hijab of Fatima Aliyeva, a doctor from Dagestan. In a post on its Telegram channel, the group accused the woman of deliberately provoking the incident and attempting to discredit law enforcement. It also pledged to defend the officers if, in its view, they faced persecution or threats against their relatives.

The statement followed an incident on 28 October in Moscow’s Vykhino-Zhulebino district. During the arrest of Aliyeva, a 25-year-old general practitioner, police officers allegedly used physical force against her and, according to her family, subjected her to verbal abuse. Her relatives are calling for an investigation into the officers’ conduct and for the legal grounds for their use of force to be established.

Aliyeva was on her way to work when officers stopped her for an identity check. As she did not have her passport with her, she showed them its digital version through the Russian government services portal, Gosuslugi. According to a relative, Aliyeva then asked the officers to identify themselves and drew their attention to a man who, in her view, appeared to be intoxicated on a children’s playground. One of the officers reportedly replied: “Some piece of shit like that isn’t going to tell us what to do.”

When Aliyeva tried to record the exchange on her phone, the officers began detaining her using force. Her relatives say they twisted her arms behind her back and took her mobile phone. On the way to the police station, the family alleges, officers insulted her, including by calling her a “monkey”.

Outside the police station, Aliyeva refused to get out of the car without her hijab. According to her relative, officers grabbed her by the neck and pulled her out of the vehicle. At the station, she was handcuffed to a chair and prevented from calling her family for around an hour and a half.

The police have given a different account of events. The Moscow police department for the South-Eastern Administrative District said Aliyeva had allegedly refused to show her passport, behaved aggressively and failed to comply with an order to accompany officers to the station. The department cited these claims to justify the use of physical force.

The Russian Community described Aliyeva as a “provocateur” and suggested that she had expected preferential treatment because she wore a hijab. It disparagingly referred to the headscarf as an “Arab curtain” and accused her of trying to turn public opinion against the police.

On the same day, Aliyeva was found administratively liable. The Kuzminsky District Court in Moscow fined her 1,000 roubles under Part 2 of Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences, which covers disorderly conduct accompanied by disobedience to a lawful demand from a public official. The court ruling stated that she had disturbed public order, used obscene language and ignored police instructions. The judge rejected Aliyeva’s objections, referring to the case materials. According to the independent Russian outlet DOXA, the evidence included statements from police officers. Part of the confrontation was captured on video, which was later published by the Telegram channel Blog Dagestana.

The day after the arrest, representatives of Dagestan became involved in the case. The republic’s human rights ombudsman, Zapir Alkhasov, appealed to the Moscow prosecutor, asking him to investigate the incident. Sadrudin Aygubov, a member of Dagestan’s People’s Assembly, sent appeals to the Moscow police department and the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee, demanding an inquiry into the use of force and reports of verbal abuse.

The situation has also drawn the attention of Dagestan’s Ministry for National Policy and Religious Affairs and the republic’s permanent mission to the Russian president. Aliyeva’s relatives say they intend to pursue a full investigation and a legal assessment of the officers’ actions.

As the family seeks answers about why the police used force against Aliyeva and removed her hijab, the nationalist movement has already declared her responsible for the confrontation. But neither the administrative fine nor the Russian Community’s statements can substitute for an investigation into the conduct of the police officers themselves.