How the patriarch will say

The Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, Pavel Astakhov, said that when considering issues of introducing juvenile justice, he acts only with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, Interfax-Religion reports.

“I came to congratulate the patriarch, and we touched on this topic in conversation. Then I simply said: “Your Holiness, I will do as you bless. Because it's important to me. I won’t do anything without your blessing,” said P. Astakhov in an interview published in the January issue of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.

During their next meeting, the patriarch told the ombudsman that, in his opinion, no Western forms of juvenile justice are acceptable for Russia, “but children must be taken away from hooligans, criminals and drunkards in order to be saved.”

“These were the words of His Holiness. And I completely agreed with him. After all, if people are criminals, then they will raise a child to be a criminal or kill him, so they cannot leave children,” says P. Astakhov.

At the same time, the Commissioner for Children's Rights cited statistics according to which in some Russian regions in the North and Far East, 100% of crimes against children are committed within the family.

“Just imagine: a child is calmly walking, walking down the street in the company of walruses and polar bears, but he cannot live peacefully at home... These are terrible numbers,” the ombudsman said.