Nothing is scarier than kids: a group of schoolchildren brutally beat a teenager.

      At the same time the Kirov police believe that the multiple — almost fifty — blows to the body, kicks to the temple and face of the victim will probably "not even amount to an administrative offense." So 16‑year‑old Alina (name changed), a student at one of Kirov's lyceums, having neatly played the role of the "little bandit," continues to assert herself among her peers, having merely changed her "tactics of war": she is not yet swinging fists, but is actively firing threats at the beaten boy on Telegram (screenshots of the chats are in the editorial office's possession, ed. note).

      "Most likely the main principle of the local police is: whatever happens — just do nothing… Yet in a year or two those same thugs could be charged under Article 105 (murder), people looking for excuses for their cruelty. They'll say it was puberty, a time of self‑assertion… Only they'll forget that they themselves raised such little beasts, thickly covering their kindness and humanity with manure," says one parent, visibly upset, whose child has probably already encountered this organized, militant group of schoolchildren.

      Thus, on September 13 at 15 Bolsheva Street at around five p.m., a group of Kirov schoolchildren, led by a 16‑year‑old lyceum pupil, beat a student of School No. 13. In the brief list of complaints voiced to Ilya (name changed) before the first blow delivered by Alina was the demand that he apologize to the girl about whom he had allegedly "spread rumors."

      As Ilya later said, already in the summer the same boys had blabbed to him that a mutual "acquaintance girl already has two lovers." And in September Alina invited Ilya to simply talk — "no fists." Judging by the video, which was filmed and a week later posted to the group chat by the "leader of the children's gang," they beat Ilya — who, given his level of development, is unlikely to be capable of inventing tall tales — for a long time and with relish. About forty blows were struck to his back, stomach, chest, arms and legs, and then to his head. Perhaps the most horrifying frames are those where the mark of a sneaker remains on his face, and under the schoolgirl's foot the temporal bone seems to crunch as she forces him to swear that he will not go to the police.

      Ilya indeed did not contact the police, telling his mother he had fallen off his bicycle, until the recording of the beating was forwarded to his family. On September 21 the woman went to the police demanding that those who attacked her son be criminally prosecuted. And at the very end of September the victims turned to Newsler.ru to draw the townspeople's attention to the situation:

      "These monsters didn't even have time to be scared of what they'd done before the juvenile affairs unit stopped looking into the case. Yes, the boys are 13, yes, they don't face criminal charges, but there are other measures to deal with children who don't understand the line between mischief and crime. If they themselves don't get it — then let the parents understand. Meanwhile the girl has clearly reached the age when for the consequences of kicking someone in the face, humiliating a person, and threatening murder and violence, one is not just sent to the corner or punished with a belt. But it's hard to believe: after everything, the attackers are threatening Ilya and extorting money from him. The mother is forced to see her son to and from school," says Maria Shabalina, representing the victims' interests, about the current state of affairs.