“He is all swollen, his mother has gangrene”: the bailiff saved the family of the alimony

What actually happened, the investigator of the Kopeysk city department of bailiffs Elena Zavyalova told the MK correspondent.

– It happened before the new year. Then a criminal case was initiated against a 38-year-old resident of Kopeysk Sergey (name changed – ed.), a persistent non-payer of alimony. He owed more than a million rubles. I’ll explain the situation right away: he has five children, and all of them are now in orphanages. His wife died about two years ago, and he was a drug addict, plus HIV infection. Debt collectors are representatives of orphanages where the children are. They cannot revoke executive documents by law, since the children are on state support, and there is nothing to take from him! The youngest girl is three years old (but she has already been taken under guardianship by the family), and the oldest child is about 15 years old. Sergei’s wife was also ill for a long time, she was a drug addict, like him. Both parents were deprived of parental rights. They used to live together in a private house without water, without a toilet. They slept on the same sofa, in addition to the kids, his mother also. The children were taken three years ago. The smallest girl, by the way, is also HIV-infected.

The man did not answer the phone, he did not come to us. Made him a forced drive. Our employees went to the indicated address and they called me from there, they said: we will bring him, of course, but he will not get back, he has a big health problem. She said that I would come to him myself with a lawyer.

The next day we arrived and saw a terrible picture: a half-dead mother, and he was all twisted. And an old private house, dilapidated, one might say.

Did he open the door for you?

– He practically crawled out and opened the gate for us. We went with a lawyer to a house where there were two or three rooms, but they were boarded up. The stove was heated with wood, the dirt was terrible. The only thing was that the house was warm and the TV worked. There was also a refrigerator, but only documents were stored in it. On the floor, I saw Sergey’s mother, she was lying on the mattress from the crib, also covered with an old children’s blanket. I knew that the woman after a stroke. They began to talk with Sergey about alimony and all the problems. He said that he could not go to the bailiffs. He lifted his T-shirt, and where the liver is, everything is three times enlarged, the whole side is swollen. The man explained that he could neither walk, nor stand, nor work. He has already been tried under article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (non-payment of alimony), that is, I re-attracted him. He said that he was sentenced to corrective labor, but he is physically unable to serve the sentence, and his mother is not walking. And he is only 38 years old, and his mother is 66.

– How so? Doesn’t he care what is with him, what is with the children, what is with the mother?

– Yes. He never paid alimony in his entire adult life. I told him then: “What are you doing! Your mother will die of starvation here!” He only replied that it would be better to let him die than to live like this. Then my arms and legs shook, the lawyer was with me, she also became ill. We left the house and began to think what to do, where to run? Either to social security, to health care, or to the city administration. I say that dogs in shelters live in better conditions than this family. On the same day, she told her boss about everything. He contacted Social Security.

And Sergei himself then had another trial (he was brought to court somehow). Since he did not go to work, the Federal Penitentiary Service came out with a petition to replace correctional labor with a more severe punishment – imprisonment. The lawyer talked to the judge, explained the situation, that his mother would simply die alone, and the meeting was adjourned. And from the court he was already taken to the hospital, where he was treated, given droppers, brought to life for about ten days.

– So how did you save this woman?

– I came to her the next day. The whole house was already cold, she also lay on the floor, and on the bedside table there was only a glass of tea. I ran to the store and bought the necessary products that do not spoil: vegetable oil, salt, sugar, cereals, soups that can be simply brewed, potatoes, onions, bread. I fed her, made porridge, tea. I looked into the barn, and there was almost no firewood there to heat the house! This woman didn’t say anything at first. I thought she was sleeping. And then, when she began to look for documents, since she needed urgent treatment (her right leg turned black, gangrene probably began), the woman suddenly said: “I can hear you.” But the diaper under her was clean, which means that the son somehow looked after her after all. The next day, the deputy head of the department of social protection personally went to see her, called an ambulance and took her to the hospital. It turned out that it was just in time, because the woman had gangrene of her leg. Now part of her foot has already been taken away. She is in the geriatric center. She was asked first if she wanted to go there, she replied that she wanted to, although part of the pension would be deducted. She left, as they say, of her own free will. But at least she’ll be looked after. She was washed and warmed up, she began to eat regularly, slowly coming to her senses. Although she is 64 years old, she looks at all 90. Small, thin, overgrown and all gray-haired.

– And what about Sergei now?

– He’s at home. He has already been discharged from the hospital. He most likely has cirrhosis of the liver. The last time I saw him was after the new year. Again they were called to court. As far as I know, they didn’t. They dug him out in the hospital, and he came to his senses.

When I asked why Elena helped these people, because her official duty is to call debtors to account, the bailiff answered very simply:

– The first thing I asked myself when I saw all this: what is it for people? Whatever he may be a drug addict, even if he is convicted, he is a man first of all! Why didn’t anyone come to them? Why, after a stroke, a woman (it just killed me) was allowed to go home and no one ever asked her about her well-being – neither a doctor nor a nurse? You have a person who is not walking after a stroke, why not check? The same applies to the district inspector – you have a judge on the site, why don’t you come and check?! If at least one of the officials came and saw all this, then this whole tragedy could have been avoided.

– Is it not the first time you help people like this, especially your “clients” as a bailiff?

– Yes. I feel very sorry for people. I feel sorry even for those whom I bring to justice. Sometimes a person leaves me, I hand him the act, I know that he will go to court, and he says “thank you” to me! For what? For attitude. And I sit and cry. It’s all about alimony. Some people can’t pay, they just don’t have money, some have a new family, and it’s basically impossible to find a normal job to provide for a new family and pay alimony. It is impossible, because many employers take people from us unofficially, without employment, and alimony is calculated from the average salary in Russia. If he has two children, he must pay 30 thousand each. It’s unreal! But people have different fates, love is different. After all, it is possible to accrue alimony from some subsistence level in the region, so that people can give at least 5-6 thousand rubles.

And there are some women whom I quietly hate. She is ten years older than her ex-husband, says that she gave birth for herself. What are you doing for alimony then? He does not work. This lady comes and writes a statement against him – hold him accountable!

One alimony, who was also not walking, had a debt of more than a million rubles. I tell him – disability must be registered. He said that there was nothing to get to the doctor even to get it. I bought him a phone with a SIM card, so that at least he could call the hospital and call a doctor, communicate with someone. What, I’m sorry, right? Situations are different. But I am such a person that I pass the fate of everyone through myself and it can be hard, of course. Sometimes the pressure is so high…

– How did you choose this profession?

– Initially, by education, I am the director of mass holidays, we are all such lively people there! And then a friend told me about her work in the then police. I like it. I came to the department and asked for a job. Have taken. For more than 12 years she worked as a juvenile inspector in Chelyabinsk (by the way, many of my former wards still remember me!). Well, then she moved to the city of Kopeysk as a bailiff. She left the police force as a captain. I really like the new place. And my husband supports me in everything. He bought me an old car and says: “Drive to work!”. In the evenings we discuss with him what I had that day. Although I am only 53, my eldest grandson is already 11 years old! It’s my life to help, and I can’t do otherwise.