Juvenile Victims of Sexual Attacks Kept in Russia Together With Young Criminals

After arrests of pedophiles exploiting them juvenile victims of sexual attacks, who come to the Russian capital from the country’s regions, are kept in special centers together with their coevals, detained on suspicion of committing different crimes and law violations, that means that youngsters there are subjected further to torture and violence, a head of a branch of the Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Moscow City Alexander Kuligin said at an international conference on Child Trafficking and Internet Pornography.

A MosNews correspondent reported that UNICEF representatives, Russian law enforcement authorities, MPs, FBI employees, U.S. federal prosecutors and trial attorneys from the U.S. and childrens’ rights activists took part in the meeting. Kuligin has named a number of problems, caused by the imperfection of Russian laws.

“We can cross the road — you see, there is a news-stall — buy a newspaper and find an advertisement of sexual services there. Even the age (of those who render them) will be listed in some newspapers — 14-15 years,” the official said, MosNews reported.

Russian authorities also have difficulties in proving whether evidence is pornography or not, as the law does not fix it. Thus, every case needs a special examination by arts experts, but such examinations are not recognized by Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, Kuligin said.