Police in North Ossetia have decided not to launch a criminal investigation into the the death in March of a young woman who had undergone plastic surgery. They have sent the case to the Prosecutor’s Office to study the legality of this decision.

According to local news agency Alania-News the young woman died after undergoing a botched liposuction procedure at the Republican Clinical Hospital of Vladikavkaz. The hospital was not licensed to perform such surgery and the doctor was not an employee of the hospital, Alania-News reports.

Her intestines were damaged during the operation, and a subsequent operation to rectify the problem was also unsuccessful. She was transferred to another hospital in serious condition, allegedly to divert responsibility from the clinic where the surgeries were performed, where she died.

For almost three months the young woman’s relatives have been attempting to force police to investigate the case and punish the people responsible, forcing the Prosecutor’s Office on 17 July to begin to probe why a criminal case was not launched.

Plastic surgery has become popular in the North Caucasus in recent years. Complicated surgeries on the nose, lips, abdomen, and facelifts are often conducted in unsuitable private clinics. Such clinics are often found in busy marketplaces.

Last year, a 16-year-old boy died of heart failure at a Grozny clinic after surgery on the nasal septum. A criminal case was launched against the doctor.

In February, a young woman barely survived after complications and haemorrhagic shock as a result of plastic surgery at one Chechen clinic.