Resident of Pavlodar belabors wife to the condition of physical disability.  In the court, the victim asked to free her tyrant husband from criminal responsibility. Physical traumas put the victim in coma and she almost died, but even that did not force her to take a sober-minded look at her spouse.  Human rights activists report that it is a habitual reality for all post-Soviet countries.  Even danger to life does not motivate them to divorce from their violators.

Till Death Do Us Apart

A Pavlodar criminal court sentenced a man, who attacked his wife before the eyes of their children to 9 years in the average security prison.

In the court, the victim dropped all charges and forgave her husband, insisting that the husband be liberated.  The justice, however, left the verdict as was, because he realized the danger the man posed to society,

reports the Public Fund “Speak Up” (НеМолчи.kz).

The Pavlodar verdict became some sort of an achievement for the Kazakh society. Sometimes, home attackers evade punishment, even if victims insist on same.

The woman from Pavlodar, who asked the court to drop the charges evoked a surprise among compatriots.  Her husband almost killed her in front of their 12-year old son and 7-year old daughter. The attacker used a hand weight to batter the woman. The victim lost two liters of blood in fell in coma. Doctors had no hopes to reanimate her.

Children sustained a severe shock and were paralyzed with fear. They feared to open the door for the relatives to enter their flat. Their father left in the morning and told the children to not call the police and relatives. Victim’s sister called them at 7-15 and implored children to show their mother on video and open the door.

Because relatives and ambulance crew could not make it inside for more than one hour, the children were soaking with blood of their dying mother.

Police did not recognize the crime as attempted murder and filed it, as deliberate severe bodily harm, the human rights experts report. Besides, relatives of the violator manipulated the victim into signing a paper of reconciliation and refusal to demand the compensation of moral and material damage. For some time, the perpetrator evaded criminal responsibility – to the merit of the Pavlodar police and prosecution. 

Fortunately – not to the victim and her children, but to society, the case was re-considered. Children are not likely to enjoy the normal life in the near future – their father’s relatives do not want to have anything to do with them, while their handicapped mother is now in poverty.

The only thing that comforts us, is that the children will not see violence.

You Got Married, You Endure

Situations, when women drop charges and justify their attackers are not normal. There are not many reasons, why some women do so. The problems root-out from child years.

The CIS mentality indoctrinates girls to be submissive. Girls are always compared against others. When those girls grow up and have their own families, they are told to endure all problems. Economic factors only reinforce that requirement – suffering women do not have money to rent apartments and they need money to support their children.

Crisis-center personnel report that very often women attend centers not to become determined to abandon their husbands, but to be persuaded to stay with them. All of a sudden, they seek out numerous reasons to keep the family. Crisis centers have to put up and support their clients’ decisions.

Help from crisis centers is not enough.Their admission capacities are limited. Women have problems finding jobs, which forces them to return to their abusers.

Such stories never have happy ends. Often, they result in murder. Kazakhstan women are capable of long endurance, but one day they may resort to any means to protect themselves and children. Courts are not that in favor of women, compared to abusing men. Very often, self-defense is called deliberate murder. Of course, one could avoid that – all it takes is to leave. But women face one particular question – How will children grow up without father. Psychology experts have one definite answer – Yes, they will grow up in healthy environment.