Children returned from Iraq handed over to their relatives in Ingushetia and Chechnya

Today, four children evacuated from a Baghdad prison have arrived in Grozny.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the evening on November 18, 32 children were brought to Moscow from a Baghdad prison, including children of natives of Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan.

This morning, four children returned from Iraq were brought from Moscow to Grozny, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed by an official from the Chechen Ministry for National Policy, External Relations, Press, and Information. "They are two Chechen and two Ingush children. The children were handed over to their close relatives," the official said.

According to her, the search for the Chechen children was initiated by their maternal grandmother, who appealed for help to local human rights defenders. "The father of the children was a militant in Syria. Several years ago, his wife left Chechnya to join him and took the children with her. Her husband was killed, and the woman with her children stayed in Iraq. Last year, she and a group of other militant wives were sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, and the children stayed in difficult conditions in a camp. Now they will live with their grandmother," assured the official from the Chechen Ministry for National Policy.

On November 19, the Russian Ministry for Public Health announced on its official website that the flight of November 18 was the last evacuation of children from Iraq.

This is the fourth flight with children from Iraq since December 2018, the press service of the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia reported. Activities will now be focused on returning minors from Syria to Russia. According to the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, 146 children still stay in Syrian camps and prisons.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 20, 2019 at 12:36 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.