Interrogations begin at Tatarstan orphanage where video of child abuse was filmed

“The best way to make children good is to make them happy” (Oscar Wilde). Such a slogan was adopted by a social shelter in Naberezhnye Chelny, video frames from which, accidentally peeped and filmed through the window of one of the residents, with severe bullying of older pupils over the younger ones, circled the Web. Former pupils of the orphanage told MK what they had to deal with.

“The social shelter for children and adolescents provides assistance to children in difficult life situations,” the official page of the state-run children’s institution says. And it was in this place, where children, already faced with life’s injustice, were promised help from adults and the state, that a case of “hazing” of older pupils over younger ones surfaced. The video of bullying accidentally became public thanks to a caring local resident who filmed the process of humiliation on her phone and passed it on to the right place.

In the video, in one of the rooms of the shelter, pupils are much taller and physically stronger than their victims, kicking them. The older guy kicks him with all his might, and the child “flies away” to the doorway. The “videographer” comments in horror: “Look what he is doing! Beating the little one! I’m shaking all over. Where are the tutors?! I took everything off, I need to call the shelter and the police! Then another kid comes into the “execution” room, notices that they are being filmed through the window. And draws the curtain.

“It’s scary to think what happens behind the closed doors of such children’s institutions,” the citizens agree under this video and call on the authorities to establish strict control over shelters and visit them more often.

A girl from Naberezhnye Chelny, who went through such an institution as a child, expressed her opinion to MK: “We definitely need to install cameras in such institutions, at least in some rooms. This has always happened and will continue to happen. I myself was unlucky in childhood, and I ended up there, and in the same way the elders mocked the younger ones, it happened worse: sharp and piercing objects were applied to the body in order to “scare”.

“MK” found those who visited this shelter. It turned out that not only some pupils over others are bullying there. The guys have someone to take an example from.

“My sister, she is 12 years old, came to this shelter in 2023 and stayed there for a month,” a young resident of Naberezhnye Chelny told MK. – Once my sister called the police (she had seen enough videos on the Internet about “children’s rights”) and complained that her parents were forcing her to clean the house and do her homework. She said that because of this she did not want to live with them.

The police advised her parents to send her to an orphanage “for re-education”. A month later, my sister began to beg her parents to take her out of there, complaining that she was very sick there, and they took her away.

What did you see there in a month? – I ask now her sister.

– One boy, he was five years old, stole everything from me – pens, a beautiful set of pencils that my mother gave me … Coloring, sweets that they brought me – he took all this from my nightstand and hid it at his place. They might hit the wall.

– Like this?!

– I was once hit against the wall for not sleeping in the “quiet hour”. There are very strict teachers, they scold you if you don’t do your homework. There was also a huge toy closet, but no one was allowed near it. They were not allowed to play with these toys, they were “for beauty”.

For official comments, we turned to the departments of the Republic of Tatarstan, which are responsible for the well-being of children living in the republic.

“The ministry is aware of the incident and is currently investigating all the details,” the press service of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Republic of Tatarstan explained to MK. – An audit is being carried out, according to the results of which appropriate decisions will be made. The child was examined by doctors, nothing threatens his health.

MK also asked Irina Volynets, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Republic of Tatarstan, to express her opinion on the incident:

– You studied the issue of this shelter, what is its reputation?

“Before this incident, there were no complaints about him,” the children’s ombudsman answered. – The case, of course, is terrible, especially considering that the vast majority of children ended up there not from a good life, but because the situation in their own families is unfavorable.

When a child is in such a place, the management of the shelter is responsible for him. I sincerely hope that those responsible will be identified and punished. Why do older children, instead of taking care of the younger ones, helping them, bully them? It turns out that if the video had not been accidentally filmed by a resident of the city, then no one would have known about such cases of bullying in this shelter?

As the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Republic of Tatarstan, Irina Volynets sent inquiries to the management of the orphanage, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the head of the city where it is located. According to her, she has already received an answer from one department that nothing threatens the child’s health, but psychologists will work with him to “level the consequences of this incident.”

Meanwhile, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article “negligence” (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), an investigation is underway. A source in the law enforcement agencies of the republic told MK that interrogations were already underway at the shelter.