Children of a Muslim woman from Rostov-on-Don seized illegally, her advocate claims

A criminal case for assisting terrorist activities has been instituted against Alyona, a native of Rostov-on-Don, who converted to Islam. The woman left her three children to a mother of her husband, and the latter tried to take them to Grozny, but law enforcers took them off the train on the way. The children were sent to an orphanage. Such seizure of children is illegal, advocate Israil Gadadov claims.

In 2008, Alyona converted to Islam and married a “Russian Muslim.” According to the woman, she faced harassment almost immediately. In 2011, her first husband was sentenced on the charge of drug trafficking, and Alyona claims that the drugs were planted to him. She divorced her first husband and married Timur, a native of Grozny.

The young woman herself wrote on her page on Instagram that she was accused of transferring money to a supporter of the “Islamic State” (IS, a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court, – note of the “Caucasian Knot”) in October 2013. According to Alyona, law enforcers demanded from her to confess to financing terrorists and testify against her former husband and other people. They were promising her a mitigation of punishment for the above.

In an effort to avoid pressure, Alyona and her husband left for Turkey on July 1, where they stay now. Her three children did not have foreign passports (they were seized by law enforcers), and the young woman left them to the mother of her husband.

Advocate Israil Gadadov called such seizure of children illegal. According to the advocate, the law permits seizure of children from their direct relatives only if there are noticeable problems, for example, children are beaten, not fed, and they run away from home.