|
English Language Page 05.12.2011, Moscow To: Susan N. Herman, President of the ACLU 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York NY 10004. To: Nancy Hopkins, Executive Director of ACLU of Pennsylvania P.O. Box 40008 Philadelphia, PA 19106. Phone: (215) 592-1513 info@aclupa.org Dear human rights colleagues! Highly appreciating the ACLU commitment to protecting of the fundamental human rights, including rights of children, we ask you to defend the right for the safe existence and possibly the right for life of 9-year-old Elizabeth Craver (Dasha Skorobogatova), adopted in Russia in 2003, when she was one year old, along with her twin brother Nathaniel Craver (Ivan Skorobogatov) by the Pennsylvania residents - spouses Michael and Nanette Craver. On August 25-th, 2009 Nathaniel Craver tragically perished from the complications caused by head injury. The doctors found on his body for more than 80 injuries, including 20 on the head and it was also found that the child was in a state of extreme exhaustion. Prosecutors estimated the wounds on the child's body as the torture which resulted in death. In February 2010 adoptive parents were arrested, while Elizabeth was temporarily placed in the foster family. On November 18-th, 2011 York County jury, Pennsylvania, rejected with its Decision the accusation of spouses Craver in the premeditated murder, but found them guilty of acts that threatened the safety of the child and resulted in his death. Thus Michael and Nanette Craver were sentenced each to 16 months of imprisonment and were released, because by the time of the trial they had already spent 18 months in the pre-trial detention. Without going into a discussion why the York County jury's Decision was strikingly at odds with the position of the prosecutors, we express our grave concern at the fact that after the liberation of the spouses Craver their adoptive daughter Elizabeth was returned to the family. Michael and Nanette Craver were found guilty of creating the conditions that caused the death of her twin brother. Such people also pose a threat to Elizabeth. We do not understand why the authorities of Pennsylvania ignored this obvious fact. We ask you to defend the right of Elizabeth Craver (Dasha Skorobogatova) for safe existence and ask you to insist to transfer her to another more secure American adoptive family. Lyudmila Alexeeva, Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group (mhg-main@umail.ru); Boris Altshuler, Member Moscow Helsinki Group, "Right of the Child" (baltshuler@yandex.ru); Vyacheslav Bakhmin, Member Moscow Helsinki Group; Sergei Kovalev, Member Moscow Helsinki Group; Victoria Malikova, Member Moscow Helsinki Group; Alexander Petrov, Member Moscow Helsinki Group; Lev Ponomarev, Member Moscow Helsinki Group, "Movement for Human Rights"; Sergei Sorokin, Member Moscow Helsinki Group, "Movement Against Violence". |
Наша кнопка  |
|