RUSSIA DOMESTIC ABUSE
(SCHIFFRIN/FANNIN) -- PBS NHWE AUG. 26, 2017
In Russia, a woman is killed by domestic
violence every 40 minutes, according to a 2008 estimate from the Russian
government. But earlier this year President Vladimir Putin signed a law that
decriminalizes certain forms of domestic violence. Critics say the new law
condones abuse within the family. With the help of the Pulitzer Center on
Crisis Reporting, special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin
begin their story in Moscow.
CREDITS LIST:
CORRESPONDENT: Nick Schifrin
PRODUCER: Zach Fannin
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Tom Ritzenthaler
CAMERA: Zach Fannin
EDITOR: Zach Fannin
LOCAL PRODUCERS: Veronika Silchenko and Roman Stepanovych
ADDITIONAL CAMERA: Alexander Roslyakov
NICK SCHIFRIN: Anna Zhavnerovich invited me into her home because she’s not
silent. And she doesn’t want other victims of domestic violence to be silent
either.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Why do you think it’s important to tell your story?
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: To kill the culture of silence that exists in Russia. So that
other women won’t be scared to say what happened to them.
NICK SCHIFRIN: What happened to Zhavnerovich is that in December 2014 her live-in
boyfriend beat her up on the night they broke up.
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: I woke up and he was sitting on me holding down my arms and legs.
He starts hitting me in the face and head, saying he wants to mutilate me. I
lost consciousness after about 20 blows. When I woke up, he told me that I
shouldn’t tell anyone.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Zhavnerovich story is common. 1 in 5 Russian women are physically
abused, and 14-thousand are killed in domestic violence each year, according to
the Russian government. That fatality rate is more than 20 times the rate in
the U.S. Zhavnerovich says the cause is a patriarchal violent culture combined
with the devastating impact of World War Two, which cost the lives of
approximately 20 million Soviet men.
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: Women had to raise children alone, take care of the household
alone, and there were a lot of sayings born like, “He’s bad, but he’s still a
man.” If you had a man you were very lucky, no matter what he did to you.
That’s a trauma, and the culture of silence grew from the trauma.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For victims, there are few safe spaces. Which makes this place on
the outskirts of Moscow, a sanctuary. This woman and her two daughters live at
a church-funded shelter for victims of domestic violence. In their case, the
violence was inflicted by multiple family members.
NICK SCHIFRIN: How did your husband and your mother-in-law abuse you?
NAME WITHHELD: His mother dragged me by the hair across the floor. Then she hit
me punched me in the face almost every day. And in the end, my husband’s hands
got loose as well. He would hit me in the face.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The free shelter gives her kids a sense of security. But she
doesn’t feel safe. She asked us to hide her identity because she fears her
husband is trying to find her.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you feel safe here?
NAME WITHHELD: Not really. Because my husband is a very clever man. He has
reported me as a missing person, looking for me through the police. Here, I’m
always looking out of the window, fearing he will come with the police. I am
always scared.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Victims often fear, and distrust police, says shelter
administrator Natalya Feshenko.
NATALYA FESHENKO: When a woman calls the police and says, ‘My husband is killing
me,” they respond by saying, ‘Call us when he kills you.”
NICK SCHIFRIN: That’s actually what happened last November to 36-year-old Yana
Savchuk. She recorded herself calling the local police in a town 200 miles
south of Moscow calmly asking for help. In response, the officer -- a woman --
mocked her. The officer says, “If he kills you, we’ll certainly come to examine
the dead body.” 45 minutes later, her boyfriend killed her.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In June last year, Russia passed a law making domestic abuse a
crime punishable by up to two years in prison. But this year, the Russian
Parliament eased the penalties. Now, if domestic abusers don’t break bones, and
don’t commit abuse more than once a year, they can be sentenced to only 15 days
in jail, or they can avoid jail entirely by paying a 500 dollar fine.
ANNA KULCHITSKAYA: The previous version punished relatives harsher than if the
physical abuse came from a non-relative, like a teacher or a doctor.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Anna Kulchitskaya defends the new law. She, as well as President
Vladimir Putin and their allies in the Russian Orthodox Church, say they wanted
to limit state meddling in family life.
ANNA KULCHITSKAYA: We think it was causing serious damage to the traditional family.
And destruction of the family is the destruction of the country. There is a
policy of forcing Western values and Western techniques. These are mostly being
repelled by traditional Russian values because the Western values are perceived
as strange, wild, and irritating. We want to stay Russian.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But shelter administrator Feshenko says the new law has already
given men permission to abuse.
NATALYA FESHENKO: We have a lot more people in our center than before. This is
already evidence that the freedom to beat up has begun. Before, if he was
punished seriously, he would think twice about whether to hit her again. Now he
will hit her again, calmly. It unties hands.
NICK SCHIFRIN: 900 miles east of Moscow, in the city of Ufa...Yevgeniya Zakhar is
trying to help women who are beaten by those untied hands. She is replacing
taboos with tattoos. She’s a tattoo artist who covers up scars, bruises, and
burns from domestic violence, free of charge.
YEVGENIYA ZAKHAR: They come here as one person and they leave here another person.
When they have a scar, they feel ugly, even if the scar is small. But when you
have a tattoo, it’s always beautiful and tender.
NICK SCHIFRIN: When she first started, the response was overwhelming. Hundreds of
victims asked for help. Today, she sees victims once a week, including Tatiana
Tukina. She says her ex-boyfriend stabbed her 3 times and shattered a glass
bottle on her. She asked for a flower tattoo.
TATIANA TUKINA: I really like flowers and because pink is a very tender color.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And up until that was drawn on you when you looked down at your
legs, what did you think about?
TATIANA TUKINA: About that pain that I used to feel.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The flowers took a couple of hours. What she’s most excited about
is not having to wear the black tights she has covered her legs with for 4
years.
TATIANA TUKINA: You really don’t feel the scars when you don’t see them. Thanks to
Zhenya for the tattoo.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For Zakhar, these are the moments that convince her the new
domestic violence law punishes the victims.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The people who defend the law say that domestic violence should be
handled within the family.
YEVGENIYA ZAKHAR: I agree with the saying, “Don’t dump your trash outside your own
home.” But those defenders of the law just haven’t seen what I’ve seen. These
young women’s lives and bodies are ruined. What can one say to the people that
passed this law? God forbid you to find yourself in the victim's shoes.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In some areas, the law has had one unexpected consequence.
Zhavnerovich says it encourages victims to come forward.
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: Why are women afraid to go to police? They are afraid to be left
without a provider, that their husbands will go to jail. When it’s only
administrative punishment, it takes away the psychological barrier, and women
will start to tell police about what happened to them.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Zhavnerovich not only went to the police. She wrote a magazine
article about what happened. And suddenly, hundreds of women contacted her. So
she kept writing, and she says that’s changed the culture.
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: Before, when they talked about domestic violence, it was “shut
up” or “it’s your own fault.” Material that I published has broken this circle
of silence.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But she knows many Russian women don’t have her public outlet, or
her courage.
ANNA ZHAVNEROVICH: I know that’s in contrast with other women who have no social
capital. I used mine to talk about the authorities, talk about how to defend
yourself, so it would be easier for others. Because most women’s resources are
much more limited.
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