Malik and Khadizhat Gataev hope for fair verdict of Lithuanian court

Malik and Khadizhat Gataev, a married couple from Chechnya, who are presently in Helsinki, wait for the next trial on their case and hope for fair consideration.

Let us remind you that in 1997 the Gataevs founded in Grozny a non-commercial organization (NCO) "Native Family" and dealt with Chechen children who lost their parents. Having moved to Lithuania, the Gataev brought with them not only their own children, but also about ten adopted orphans. In Lithuania, they were sentenced to imprisonment, in particular, for cruel treatment of their children. The spouses believe that charges against them were forged.

Finland, where last year the Gataevs asked political asylum, refused to deport them to Lithuania, which demanded to extradite them. Till the end of March, up to the decision of the Supreme Court of Lithuania on reconsideration of the case and recall of the arrest warrant, the spouses had been kept in custody there.

Now they are at large, live in a rented apartment in Helsinki and hope for a new and fair trial.

"Our case wasn't stopped, it was returned to the court; it should be reconsidered. The Supreme Court of Lithuania found in the case a provocation against us and numerous violations, and returned it back to the city of Kaunas for reconsideration. We're fighting and will fight further, as we are absolutely innocent," Mr Gataev said.

"In fact, Lithuanian special services ruined our family, which lived calmly and peacefully in Lithuania. We never hide from anybody, and we were not refugees there. During the war we left for Lithuania, but not as refugees. We wanted to take children away from war, and to cure them. We did not break any laws, lived normally and had no problems. People admired our care of the children," said Malik.

Mr Gataev asserts that Lithuanian special services enticed him to cooperation and tried to recruit him, but he refused to cooperate with them.

According to Malik, in 2006 he again brought children in need of medical care to Lithuania. "Besides, they wanted to study, and Chechnya has no such opportunities then. Some pupils needed surgery, and they were operated on in Lithuania. We wanted to take those children, who were already grow-ups, away from Chechnya, to save them from fatal influence of suspicious persons. I wanted to keep them under my control. With Khadizhat and our friends we did everything possible to grow them up as normal worthy people," he said.

"Employees of law enforcement bodies from Chechnya visited us in Lithuania. The head of the Leninskiy District Department of Minors' Matters of Grozny came to us. Guests from the district administration also visited us to see how our children live and what we do here," Malik Gataev explained Gataev, according to whom Lithuanian mass media had erected, upon submission of Lithuanian special services, a "wall of lies" against their family.

"We didn't get into politics and didn't stand in someone's way. We just wanted to bring up and educate our children," Malik said, having added that he could not find any rational explanation of this increased attention of Lithuania's internal bodies to his family.

He asserts that he knows nothing about the true reasons of what happened and any claims against him. He believes that Chechen authorities also have no grounds to persecute them.

As a result of two years of persecutions, as Malik Gataev said, the health condition of his wife and himself, as well as of some pupils had considerably worsened.

Malik has noted that he is ready to go to Kaunas to the next judicial session, as he hopes for a fair and impartial consideration, after the case had received a broad international resonance.

Lithuanian law enforcement bodies refrain from any comments on the loud case. After Gataevs' release only a brief explanation of the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania followed.

"The Regional Kaunas Court has started a new consideration of the case. The defendants will be summoned to it from Finland. However, should they fail to appear voluntarily, the prosecutor's office will have to enforce their presence," runs the Ministry's statement.

Now, some of Gataevs' pupils are in a shelter in Lithuania, although the adoptive parents insisted that they should be delivered, for the term of consideration of the case, to Malik's relatives. Many have already grown up and live their independent life. At present, the family, scattered over the world because of criminal prosecutions, still has about 15 children.