Translated material
Ministry of Justice: The scale of domestic violence is exaggerated
The Ministry of Justice of Russia officially stated that the scale of the problem of domestic violence in Russia is “exaggerated”, and also suggested that men suffer more from discrimination, since in their case it is not customary to ask for protection from people of the other sex. This was written by Kommersant with reference to the document signed by the Deputy Minister of Justice Mikhail Halperin.
According to the newspaper, in the summer of 2019, the ECHR sent the Government of the Russian Federation issues on four Russians, who complained about the inability of the authorities to protect them from domestic violence and discrimination. The European Court asked whether in Russia they recognize the seriousness and scale of the problem of domestic violence and discrimination of women.
In the official response, the Ministry of Justice, according to Kommersant, admits that in Russia there is violence in families, as in other countries. However, officials noted, "the scale of the problem, as well as the seriousness and scale of its discriminatory impact on women in Russia, are quite exaggerated." In addition, the government suggested that men can suffer more from domestic violence.
“Even if we assume that most persons undergoing violence in Russia are actually women (although there is no evidence of this statement), it is logical to assume that male victims suffer more from discrimination in such cases. They are in the minority, and they are not expected to seek protection against cruelty by family members, especially if they suffer from behalf of the opposite sex. <...> [In the statistics of violent crimes that have entailed grave consequences for health or death], most of the victims are men. ”
At the end of the document, the Ministry of Justice claims that the Russian state fully fulfilled the obligation to effective solving the problem of domestic violence. Officials noted that the country has no special need to adopt specific regulatory acts regarding the violence in the family.
Among the complaints of the Russians who are considering the ECHR, there is the case of Margarita Gracheva , to whom her husband chopped off the hands. She underwent rehabilitation in St. Petersburg and told the “paper” about the treatment and help of the victims of violence.
After the murder of the graduate student of St. Petersburg State University, her roommate, historian Oleg Sokolov at the university, also opened the center for studying the problems of domestic violence. The university said that thousands of people are becoming victims of domestic violence in Russia annually, so the problem requires interdisciplinary research.
Russian human rights defenders are working on a bill on the prevention of domestic violence.