Gataevs from Chechnya receive asylum in Finland

Khadizhat and Malik Gataev, the founders of the family children's home in Chechnya, have received political asylum in Finland; the same protection was also granted to three of their children. This was reported by Oksana Chelysheva, ahuman rights activist and Vice-Chair of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

Back in 1997, the spouses Khadizhat and Malik Gataev founded in Grozny a non-commercial organization (NCO) "Rodnaya Semya" (Native Family), which dealt with Chechen children who lost their parents. Later the Gataevs with their own children and ten foster ones moved to Lithuania, where they were sentenced to prison, accused, in particular, of child abuse. The spouses served a part of the term and then moved to Finland, arguing that their charges had been fabricated.

"This is the final decision –Finlandhas granted political asylum to the Gataevs and their three minor children. It means an end to their sufferings; however, above all they need to recover after three years of uncertainty and stress," the Lithuanian newspaper "Lietuvos Zhinios" quotes Ms Chelysheva.

Earlier it was reported that six children aged from 8 to 14, former pupils of the Gataevs' family boarding school, live in a social village (SOS-village) in Vilnius.

In January 2011, the Chechen authorities announced their intention to return six Gataevs' children to their homeland. However, in early February of that year, the Vilnius officials, responsible for the custody over the children, forbadethe consul of the Russian Federation, the Minister for External Affairs of Chechnya and the delegation that arrived with them to visit the Gataevs'children.