MOSCOW: NataliaTunikova's partner pushed her towards the open balcony in their high-riseMoscow flat, before punching her to the floor. Fearing she would die, shereached for their kitchen table and "grabbed the nearest object". Itwas a knife. Tunikova, 47, said she was subjected to regular beatings, but in2014 she was the one who spent a night in a prison cell facing a heavy sentencefor stabbing her boyfriend.
A Moscow courtlater ruled that her use of force in self-defense was not justified. She wasgiven a custodial sentence but did not serve it thanks to a general amnesty.Cases like Tunikova's are ever more widely reported in Russia, leading to apublic outcry in a country that has no specific law on domestic violence andwhere feminist movements like #MeToo had little impact.
This summer, acase against three teenage sisters who killed their father after what lawyerssay was years of beatings and sexual abuse made national and global headlines.Campaigners say such reports have led to a breakthrough in awareness, andRussians are expecting the state to do more to protect victims. Tunikova toldAFP her former partner would sometimes even call an ambulance for her after anattack. "The medics would scold him but they never called the police,despite seeing my injuries," she said.
She has sincecampaigned for Russia to adopt a domestic violence law and is one of a growingnumber of women appealing to the European Court of Human Rights for justice. Ina landmark ruling in July, the European court ordered Russia to compensateValeriya Volodina -- who fled the country fearing her former partner -- forfailing to investigate and prosecute him. It also ruled that Russia's laws werefailing to protect women and called for changes.
'Abusers feeltheir impunity'
Others saycorruption is a factor in the lack of prosecutions against domestic abusers.Katya, who declined to give her last name, pursued her ex-partner through thecourts for two years after he not only beat her but also sexually abused theirtoddler son. After his arrest and a year in pre-trial detention, Katya wasstunned when police eventually freed her ex citing a lack of evidence."Abusers feel their impunity," she said.
Katya's partnerfirst started beating her when their son was two weeks old. Later he startedhacking her social media accounts to control her online activity. But beforethe sexual abuse of their son, police would not take Katya's complaints seriously."They told me: 'Let your friends sort it out'." Since PresidentVladimir Putin signed a 2017 decree downgrading first-time battery from anoffence punishable by jail time to a 5,000 ruble ($77) fine, many women do notgo to the police, Katya said, "because it leads nowhere".
"Unlesssomeone has died (the authorities) don't want to hear about it." Women'srights lawyer Mari Davtyan said Russian women are filing so many complaints tothe European court that "the state will have to do something aboutit". A growing number of Russians, she said, have become aware that thesituation with domestic violence is "catastrophic".
'Force isrespected'
According to aSeptember survey by the independent Levada pollster, 31 percent of Russiansknow of physical abuse within their own family, the family they grew up in ortheir friends' families. Almost 60 percent believe the cases should be reportedto police. Among women that number is higher. "There is a social demandfor justice," Davtyan said, adding that this changed the way local mediacover the issue.
YekaterinaSchulmann, who sits on the presidential human rights council, believes thatthanks to a social awakening there is more political will than ever for Russiato adopt a domestic violence law. "The situation has changed a lot in thelast few months," she said. "There has been a social outburst."Schulmann is part of a commission working on a draft bill that she hopes willbe presented in the Russian parliament by the end of the year.
It proposesintroducing restraining orders punishable by jail terms if broken as well associal housing for victims. Russia's upper house of parliament, the FederationCouncil, has its own commission working on the issue. Its speaker, Putin allyValentina Matvienko, has said that addressing domestic violence will be a"priority" for senators this autumn.
"That wasunthinkable just a few months ago," Schulmann said. But anti-violencecampaigner Anna Rivina is skeptical. "Only a few MPs take itseriously," the 29-year-old said in a central Moscow loft where sherecently opened a centre offering women free legal help. She welcomes that hergeneration of Russians are far more aware of what constitutes an abusiverelationship than their peers. But the problem, she said, is that Russia'spolitical system favors the physically strong. "Russia is a country whereforce is respected," Rivina said. - AFP