30 June 2024, 19:31
Maria Smelaya demands efficient inquiry into her son's kidnapping
Maria Smelaya, a resident of Krasnodar, has complained that officials from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) are passing her complaint about her husband's kidnapping of their common son to each other and would not investigate the case.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Maria Smelaya had managed to achieve a ICRF's reaction to the complaint that her son was kidnapped by her husband, a native of Chechnya. Earlier, Smelaya complained that the police refused to accept her complaint.
On May 7, the 33-year-old Maria Smelaya was placed into a shelter for women-victims of domestic violence. Earlier, she asked human rights defenders to protect her from her husband, who, as she said, had beaten her up and threatened her with death while she was pregnant with their son.
Maria has stated that her husband handed over the son he kidnapped from her to a certain woman. She explained that after this she submitted her application to the ICRF. She also noted that her husband took away her phone, which contained photos, correspondence and audio records containing his threats.
She has stressed that she was scared after she learned that the court had released her husband. "Recently I met him when I was driving around the city in my car. I thought he would turn around and kill me, but he drove by," Maria has stated.
According to her story, investigators are unaware about her son's whereabouts. He was not in the apartment where her husband was arrested. "I'm afraid that if investigators and policemen fail to find [my son] now, he will take him to Chechnya and it'll be almost impossible to return the son from there," Maria Smelaya has added.
Arbitrariness is a crime of moderate gravity; and if there are no aggravating circumstances, then the case may end in punishment with no real imprisonment, Felix Vertegel, a lawyer, has commented on Maria Smelaya's prospects for getting her husband punished.
There is a possibility that Maria Smelaya's husband will be prosecuted under the article of torture because of beating her, Lydia Mikhalchenko, a co-founder of the human rights project "Caucasus without Mother", has suggested.
Let us remind you that on June 4 it turned out that Maria Smelaya's husband has another wife. This woman, like Smelaya, filed a complaint with human rights defenders that he was beating her and also beating their common children.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 29, 2024 at 06:33 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Alexander Stepanov Source: СK correspondent
