Investigations to check of adopted Russian children abuse case in US

Russia’s Investigations Committee has launched a pre-investigation check on yet another abuse case of Russian children adopted by an American family, the Committee’s spokesman, Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday. According to Markin, the case concerns three Russian children from the Perm Territory who were adopted by the Dekert family in 2003. “The Russian Investigations Committee’s main investigation department has launched a pre-investigation probe into materials published in the mass media and into information received through diplomatic channels about facts of mistreatment of Russian children adoptd in Russia’s Perm Territory in 2003 by US foster parents. A criminal case may be opened after the check,” the spokesman said. “According to information available to Russian investigators, Alexei Klimov (Zachary Dekert) was repeatedly tortured and mistreated by his American foster mother Penny Dekert. More than a year ago, the teenage boy ran away from the family and nothing is known about his whereabouts. His two sisters, Anastasia and Svetlana, have been taken away from the foster family and placed in a social shelter,” Markin said. “To establish all circumstances of the case the Investigations Committee plans to ask the US side to provide all necessary documents and materials,” he noted. “Despite the fact that the relevant authorities in the United States are unwilling to cooperate with Russian investigators on such issues, the Russian Investigations Committee is determined to conduct a complete, independent and unbiased investigation into these cases of cruelty against Russian children,” Markin stressed. “We hope this time our requests for legal help will not remain unanswered. Eventually, these children are Russian citizens until they come of age and we shall be using all legal means to protect their rights.” The Russian Investigations Committee is currently probing into 11 cases of crimes committed against Russian children in the United States. All American citizens blamed for these crimes have been put on the international wanted list and may be sentenced to arrest in absentia, the Committee’s chairman, Alexander Bastrykin, said back in February. According to Bastrykin, the Investigations Committee offered a prompt reaction to cases “of blatant violations of rights of children adopted by American citizens, when children were tortured, sexually abused of even killed.” “The Russian Investigations Committee, the Russian president’s commissioner for children’s rights, the foreign ministry and the ministry of education and science have information about the death of 21 Russian children in the United States,” he then said. Appearing at the Russian State Duma lower parliament house on March 22, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said that Russia had sent 19 requests to the United States to provide legal help on criminal cases opened by the Russian Investigations Committee on charges of causing death to and mistreating of Russian children in that country. “So far, we have received only 7 replies, while only one our request was satisfied,” he said. According to Chaika, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the United States Department of Justice have set up a joint group to cooperate on that matter, which is tasked to “take measures to obtain complete and reliable information about adopted Russian children.”