The girl screamed and struggled but was held down by medical staff and her stepmother when female genital mutilation was performed on her at a medical clinic in June 2019 in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, a region in Russia’s North Caucasus.

Her mother filed criminal charges and the pediatric gynecologist who performed the procedure is on trial. Now, activists have petitioned for a fuller probe into the case by the Investigative Committee, which lawyers say would be a first in Russia.

“Female circumcision is crippling and has long-term negative consequences for a woman’s psychological, sexual, and reproductive health,” said Tatyana Savvina, a lawyer with the NGO Pravovaya Initsiativa (Legal Initiative), using a different term for the procedure. “This is a form of gender-based violence.”

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