13 May 2024, 18:45
After reports of her abduction, Maria Smelaya records her video appeal
In her video appeal, Maria Smelaya, a Krasnodar resident, who had complained about violence in her family with a native of Chechnya, has refuted the information that her husband had beaten her up. Thus, at least it is known that at the time of recording the video, Maria was alive and not injured, human rights defenders have noted.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the human rights project "Caucasus without Mother" informed that Maria Smelaya had stopped contacting after her husband and his accomplices abducted her and her child from a shelter. On May 11, a message was published on Maria's behalf alleging that violence on the part of her husband was slander.
On May 7, the 33-year-old Maria Smelaya was placed in a shelter for women victims of domestic violence located outside the Krasnodar Territory. Earlier, she asked human rights defenders to protect her from her husband, who, according to her version, used to beat her up and threatened her with death when she was pregnant.
Now, the human rights project "Caucasus without Mother" has posted in his Telegram channel a video of Maria's refutation. "Here I am, alive and healthy. I'm not kept in the basement, as they write, and I have no bruises in my face. I'm at home with my family, and I'm doing well," she said in the video.
Maria Smelaya has confirmed that the message to human rights defenders demanding that they delete the information that her husband had allegedly beaten her up was written by herself.
"Maria has officially signed a document allowing disclosing the data about her in the event of force majeure. Force majeure, as you can see, has occurred," the post has also stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 13, 2024 at 12:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
