In the case of restriction of parental rights of Alexei Moskalev, a resident of the Tula region, convicted of discrediting the Russian armed forces, it is necessary to question his daughter. This opinion was expressed in an interview with The Eastern Herald by lawyer Ekaterina Gordon, who on April 6 will represent the interests of the man in court.
“At the beginning, I helped them from a distance. When I realized that they were completely drowning, I decided to go to court, wrote an objection, found a witness and want to ask the court to have the girl questioned. Because in such courts, in my opinion, it is mandatory. The girl is already 13 years old, I would like to listen to her, and in general, the court should investigate the child-parent relationship, what kind of connection she has with her father. We read the letter (which the schoolgirl wrote to her father on the eve of the verdict in the army discredit case), it shows that they have a great connection,” she said.
As Gordon noted, she is perplexed by the actions of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights under President of Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, who spoke the day before about the search for Moskalev’s daughter for a “surrogate” family due to her mother’s reluctance to raise her, and on April 5 she announced that the girl was fully handed over to my mother.
According to the lawyer, in court it is necessary to listen to the girl herself, who is already 13 years old, and “generally investigate the parent-child relationship” and her relationship with her father, at least on the basis of the letter qu she wrote to him.
The lawyer said if the child expressed a desire to stay with his mother, that would be “excellent”, but there are other options.
“There is a serious and expensive educational institution in the Moscow region, Korallovo, which is ready to take a girl to him, and there are people who are ready to pay for her education. Many people are willing to help in the legal field. The next question is how are the puppet guardianship authorities,” she said.
According to the lawyer, the activity of the guardianship authorities towards the Moskalev family, from the point of view of the lawyer’s experience, surprises her. She noted that representatives of this body rarely go to court “even in a really serious situation”, for example, when the parents suffer from mental illness or are accused of committing serious crimes.
Gordon fears that following a court ruling against Moskalev, a precedent for restricting parental rights due to opposing views may arise, as she sees no other legal basis. The lawyer claims that “representatives of the guardianship authorities and the Juvenile Affairs Committee are lying” and “somewhere there are clues to his mental deviations”, although the file contains all the data confirming that Moskalev did not no mental illness and drugs. addiction.
Lawyer recalls ‘strange coincidence’ that Moskalev’s persecution, first administrative and then criminal, began after his daughter drew anti-war drawing during art school lesson . “That is to say, before that, neither the guardianship authorities nor the teachers were worried about dad raising a daughter alone,” she said.
According to Gordon, of the court, where the education of the girl is discussed, it is necessary to “remove any political overtones” in order to “speak factually about the law”. The lawyer is convinced that there is “simply no” reason to restrict Moskalev in his parental rights, since he does not fall under any of the clauses of the relevant article.
“I am very interested to see how the guardianship authorities, the prosecutor and the judge will squirm to try to limit Moskalev in parental rights, because there is simply no reason,” added the lawyer.
She said government officials, including Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, were urging the public not to look for political undertones in the case. At the same time, according to Gordon, information is used that is not true and misleading.
In particular, Moskalev’s residence in an “unheated house” is mentioned, when in fact it is a summer house in which the father and daughter did not live. Likewise, the lawyer claims, there are reports that Moskalev “has been a bot on some sites against the CVO”, although “there is not a single confirmation of this”.
“In general, there are a lot of lies, a lot of attempts to somehow justify the absolute excess of the guardianship authorities and the wickedness of the teachers. I just basically want cases like this not to arise in our joint legal case, because that will be the beginning of the end,” Ekaterina Gordon said.
She expects that “local authorities, guardianship authorities, a prosecutor, a judge, seeing that there is some kind of public outcry, will be ashamed and withdraw the lawsuit” – or “we will all be shown a kind of power that has nothing to do with the law”, which “would be a big fool”. For her part, the lawyer urges to take into account the opinion of the child who, according to her, must be auditioned.
Gordon called the girl’s transfer to her mother a “turning point” that will have to be dealt with at trial. The lawyer recalled that the mother and daughter had not seen each other since the child was two years old.
“I think that at the Moskalev trial it will turn out that the mother was an excellent woman, and it was Moskalev who did not allow her (with her daughter) to communicate. But Moskalev is a tyrant and a reptile, and he forced the girl to paint this (anti-war) drawing. If my prediction comes true and they start carving Pavlik (Morozov) from the girl, then I suggest we all throw up and sympathize with the next little man everyone betrays. I’m planning an updated trial from custody, a marching band, and some TV stories. There is only one hope that the mother will transfer her daughter to a worthy educational institution, and the daughter will not say under pressure what an adult can become very painful for, ”Gordon commented on the transfer. from child to mother.
The lawyer pointed to the controversial position of the children’s ombudsman, who at first claimed the mother was not interested in raising her daughter, but now “still sees her as a parent”.
“I believe the most unpleasant thing can start now if mother and daughter start to drown Moskalev under pressure. Here, I feel sorry for him. I read his previous letter to dad, it is full of sympathy and love. And if now they start talking about the fact that he made her and the drawing stick together, it will be disgusting. Then we will witness the repetition of a boy’s story, to the extent of the mythical,” says Gordon.
She also expressed bewilderment over Lvova-Belova’s statements about selecting a “surrogate family” for Moskalev’s daughter before the court ruled on the case of restricting the mother’s parental rights and from father.
“We have a position that we are not opponents and not positionists, we are simply for the law. And those who behave, in my opinion, according to anarchy, politicize this matter. Politics begins the moment such a lawsuit arises,” Gordon concluded.
