Russian clinic in a row on a female genital excision

A private Moscow dispensary states that he practices female bad cutting "for medical reasons" and only for adult women.

In a statement posted on its website, Best Klinik denied "unreliable" information about its "clitoridectomy service".

A little earlier, the Russian news site Meduza had claimed that the clinic had also announced the procedure to follow for girls.

The report sparked heated debate over Russian social media. Female bad mutilation (FGM) is a crime in the United Kingdom; the UN says that it violates human rights.

FGM – defined as the partial or total removal of the woman's external badia for non-medical reasons – can cause heavy bleeding and other serious complications, according to the World Health Organization. (WHO). FGM has no health benefits, says WHO.

In her statement, Best Klinik insisted that she provided a "clitoridectomy" service for women aged 18 or over "in response to requests from patients who received a corresponding recommendation from their doctor".

The procedures take place in a clinic near the Baumanskaya Metro, north of Moscow. Best Klinik also has two other clinics in the Russian capital.

Clitoridectomy – sometimes called "female circumcision" – can be performed for medical reasons, but these cases are rare.

A Russian human rights group, the Stichting Justice Initiative (SRJI), has documented cases of female bad mutilation involving girls in the Dagestan region of Russia in 2016.

Mufti Ismail Berdiyev, leader of the Muslim region, said that female bad mutilation was practiced in some villages of Dagestan and that it was necessary to curb the baduality of women.

According to SRJI, human rights lawyers are now considering asking the Russian Attorney General 's office to investigate Best Klinik.

On Facebook, Alyona Popova, Russia's leading women's rights activist, also urged the authorities to investigate the clinic's activities.

Best Klinik has not yet responded to a request for clarification from the BBC regarding its "clitoridectomy service".

SRJI's 2016 report on Dagestan prompted Russian MP Maria Maksakova-Igenbergs to introduce a bill criminalizing female bad mutilation.

But since the bill does not have the force of law, FGM – which can be fatal – is not yet a crime in Russia.

The WHO says that female bad mutilation is most common in the western, eastern and northeastern regions of Africa, in parts of the Middle East and in the Middle East. in Asia, as well as among migrants from these regions.

According to this report, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female bad mutilation in 30 countries.

Click here for the latest political news