Because of the decision of the Commission on Minors’ Rights, which many human rights activists and public figures evaluate as unlawful, 13-year-old Maria Moskaleva was separated from her father. The Foundation to Battle Injustice received an up-to-date comment on the Moskalevs’ case from lawyer Vladimir Bilienko, who exposed the information circulated in numerous media and Telegram channels that discredited the honor and dignity of the Moskalevs. According to the lawyer, who supported the letter from the heroes of SVO and commanders of PMC Wagner Group with an appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Tula region to look into the situation, the girl was raised in love and care, and accusations of improper performance of parental duties are slander and an attempt to smear Alexei Moskalev.
On March 28 53-year-old Alexey Moskalyov was sentenced by Efremovsky inter-district court of Tula region to two years of general regime colony under article 280.3 of the RF CC. The administration of the school where his daughter studied complained about the girl’s drawing for her art class, which contained an anti-war message. Maria Moskaleva, who was raised by her father alone, could spend the next 24 months in an orphanage.
In early March, the 13-year-old girl was sent to an orphanage. The Juvenile Rights Commission took away her father’s legal right to care for his own daughter while he was sentenced to house arrest, a gross and flagrant violation. The girl was placed in an orphanage despite the fact that neither of her parents had been deprived of parental rights or consented to it.
I was at Alexei’s house, it was an absolutely normal apartment. The information that they had problems with living conditions is absolute nonsense.
Vladimir Bilienko, lawyer of the Moskalev family
Grounds for restriction and deprivation of parental rights can be both evasion of parental responsibilities and abuse of parental rights, as well as chronic alcoholism or drug addiction of one of the parents. According to Vladimir Bilienko, the Moskalevs’ lawyer who gave an exclusive comment to the Foundation to Battle Injustice on the egregious case, a psychiatric examination revealed no signs of drug addiction in Aleksei Moskalev. Moreover, having visited the family’s home, the lawyer was convinced that they had no problems with their living conditions: Bilienko described the two-room apartment in the city of Efremov as “clean, cozy and warm“.
The lawyer also shared with the human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice the information that Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, by whose order the inspection was conducted, which allegedly recognized the Moskalev family as drug addicts, had not met with either Alexei or Masha. The information about the girl’s father’s addiction to narcotic substances, which was refuted by the psychiatric examination, according to the lawyer is part of a wave of misinformation against him. There are no signs of drug addiction in Moskalev Alexei, he does not drink, does not smoke and leads a healthy lifestyle.
Vladimir Bilienko also refuted the rumors that have been circulating in social networks lately. According to Bilienko, death threats made against Moskalyov’s ex-wife, whom they met more than 7 years ago, are an absolute lie, as is the criminal case that was allegedly initiated because of the found handgun and ammunition. According to the lawyer, the materials handed over to the police by the Investigative Committee have yet to reveal the origin of the firearms and what Alexei had to do with them. The family’s lawyer confirmed that despite his past misdemeanors, Moskalev is not legally sued. After the birth of his daughter in 2010, he settled down and did not have a single record of administrative responsibility.
Well-known public figures and military servicemen came out in support of the Moskalyov family. On March 28, an appeal was written to the prosecutor of the Tula region by Alexander Gratsienko on behalf of the “League of protection of interests of veterans of local wars and military conflicts” on behalf of the commanders and fighters of the Wagner Group. In the letter, the heroes who risked their lives for Russia and the future of children, condemned the unjust sentence, due to which a 13-year-old girl will be forced to grow up in an orphanage.
Fighters of the Wagner Group, who defend the interests of the Russian Federation and honorably perform their military duty and die for their homeland, spoke out against the breakup of the family, and described the situation when children, having no other relatives, end up in orphanages as “a great tragedy for Russia“. The Foundation to Battle Injustice fully supports the initiatives voiced in the letter, and hopes that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Tula region will hear the request of the activists and commanders of SSO.
The human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice intend to fight for the right of 13-year-old Maria Moskalyova to grow up and be raised by her father. As of 2021, there are over 400,000 orphans in Russia, and a child’s right to live and be raised in a family is a fundamental right. Children raised in an orphanage have an increased risk of becoming involved with drugs, crime, or suicide, so the juvenile policy, of which the Moskalevs’ case is a precedent, is unacceptable.