Maria Smelaya, who escaped from her Chechen husband, complains about death threats to her relatives

Maria Smelaya, a resident of Krasnodar, explains that her decision to refuse to make public an attack on a shelter was caused by her fears for the relatives’ lives because of the threats voiced by her former husband. The woman has decided to file a complaint to the police in connection with the kidnapping of her son.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 9, the “Caucasus Without a Mother” human rights project reported that Maria Smelaya, who complained about violence from her husband, a native of Chechnya, stopped communicating after her husband and his accomplices kidnapped her together with their child from the shelter. Later, in her video message, the woman denied the information that her husband beat her. On May 30, Maria Smelaya again appealed to human rights defenders, claiming that her husband forcibly took their one-and-a-half-year-old child away from her. The woman explained that she decided to leave her husband because he got a new wife.

The former husband of Maria Smelaya broke into her relatives’ house, where she lived, while planning to move out and live separately, and took away the child, reported Lydia Mikhalchenko, a coordinator of the “Caucasus Without a Mother” human rights project. “He took the child, his documents, and a mobile phone. Maria is not aware where her child is,” the human rights defender said.

Lydia Mikhalchenko explained that the child was taken away by the father, but then, according to the neighbours’ report, he handed him over to some woman. “That is, we can say that the child was abducted by an unidentified person. The woman could be a new wife or a cohabitant of the child’s father,” Lydia Mikhalchenko reported.

The human rights defender has added that Maria Smelaya is now “relatively safe” in Krasnodar, but she receives threats from her former husband. “He threatens her and all her relatives, including her mother, brothers, and nephews. Maria is afraid for their lives,” Lydia Mikhalchenko said.

Maria Smelaya says that her former husband is afraid of publicity, so when he forced her to leave the shelter, he demanded from her to stop making public their situation in exchange for a promise to leave the child with her.