YABLOKO Buereau statement, 02.06.2015

The marriage of 17-year-old Kheda Goylabiyeva and Chechen police chief Nazhud Guchigov under support of Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Chechnya, is a dangerous precedent of a come-back to traditional practices which are contrary to the Consitution principals. It is a case of obvious underage forced marriage, possibly as a second wife. The occurrence which was widely observed by mass media didn’t get an adequate estimation on behalf of the Russian authorities. In return, Ramzan Kadyrov, who had once again defiantly violated the law and Constitution of Russia, threatened the journalists who had critically observed the situation and called the husbands to prohibit the Chechen women to observe the wedding facts in social networks.

Moreover, a number of well-known public discussion participants stood in support of Russia-wide polygany legalisation (for example, Maxim Shevchenko).

The practises of undarage forced marriage and polygany contradict Article 19 of the Constitution on equal rights and opportunities for men and women and the Family Code of Russia and must be stopped as an evident violation of law and those guilty must bear responsibility.

The Chechen “wedding of the millennium” is an element of speedy increaseing tendency of women’s rights limiting, a come-back to Domostroy [household management code], adat and sharia in its most radical variants which view a woman as a man’s property deprived of any rights and who plays only traditional roles of a wife and mother.

It is a dangerous way to Middle Ages, refusal from principas of norms of modern civilisation, the way chosen by the Islamic state.

YABLOKO Bureau demand the President of Russia to give a political estimation of the precedent and General Prosecutor’s Office to conduct a ditailed investigation.

Sergei Mitrokhin,
YABLOKO Chairman