It's a strong, sad story. It sounds like something out of a movie or a soap opera, but it's real.
A 10-year-old child was raped five times in Kyzyl, in southern Russia. And the consequences were very visible.
The trial is underway. Three teenagers studying at secondary school in O-Shynaa are suspected; two were 17 and one was 15.
The victim was raped five times in just 12 days, between January 10 and 21, 2023, according to the child's mother.
Meduza explains that the suspects intimidated the victim, threatening her not to say anything.
The parents found out the day after the last crime, on January 22.
Mainly because the mother, Isa, noticed that her son's behavior was different: he didn't eat, became distant, isolated himself in his room as soon as he got home from school and stopped doing his homework.
In addition, one moment stood out for the mother: her son started hiding his underwear and would only leave his room wrapped in a blanket.
The child also began to experience urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence.
At one point, the child even asked his mother if dying hurt.
The mother didn't immediately understand what was going on - she had a lot of worries about even younger children - but as soon as she did, she grabbed her son and went straight to the police, where the child was interrogated for nine hours.
Hushed up
The family claims that the local authorities are trying to hush up the matter, to "tidy up" the case.
There was no psychologist at the interrogation, during which the child cried all the time. At the time of the medical examinations, despite the obvious pain, the doctor told the police that everything was fine with the child, that nothing had happened. At a local hospital, she was turned away; she was not allowed to be admitted by the investigation.
Even in (another) hospital, despite getting worse all the time, she was discharged and had to leave.
It wasn't until the end of the month that the parents managed to open criminal proceedings. The suspects were arrested and placed under house arrest.
There is a context behind this apparent cover-up: the teenage suspects are children of families with status in the area. They asked their mother "not to wash dirty linen in public".
By superior order, and after the help of a public figure in Russia, the child was sent to the capital Moscow. The case reached the State Duma, where a deputy warned that the child had not received adequate medical and psychological care.
"It seems that the investigators have something to fear. They've been protecting the suspects for two months," claimed MP Alexander Khinshtein.
Two months after the case, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the region, Saizana Tovuu, resigned (although it is not certain that the decision was related to the case).
Threats
The brother of one of the suspects allegedly told the child's family that if his brother was arrested, he would shoot them all.
Other relatives of the suspects, says the child's mother, also managed to make posts on social media pretending to be hers: they insinuated that the mother is an alcoholic, that she and her son lied about the case, that she doesn't know how to look after her children.
And they also told another story on social media: that the child was raped, yes, but by his father. A neighbor told the police this - but it later emerged that he gave this account in exchange for money.
The child's mother believes that the accused will escape this case without any punishment: "The parents of the rapists are rich, their relatives and friends have connections. They say openly that they have spent millions in bribes, that everyone is on their side. They have relatives and acquaintances in every structure and body, from the village administration to the government of the Republic."
