RT
Published: 16 May, 2011, 02:10
Edited: 16 May, 2011, 09:18
Svetlana Smetanina Edited: 16 May, 2011, 09:18
Russian Irina Bergset has accused her former husband, a Norwegian citizen, in sexual abuse of their 4-year-old son. Norwegian authorities have not taken any measures in regard to the pedophile and are trying to take the child away from Irena. The Russian Embassy has gotten involved in the case. Meanwhile Ms. Bergset, herself, had started a blog several days ago, in which she will share her story in detail.
Russian Irina Bergset has accused her former husband, a Norwegian citizen, in sexual abuse of their 4-year-old son. Norwegian authorities have not taken any measures in regard to the pedophile and are trying to take the child away from Irena. The Russian Embassy has gotten involved in the case. Meanwhile Ms. Bergset, herself, had started a blog several days ago, in which she will share her story in detail.
This story could have become just one of the many typical examples of failed marriages between Russian women and foreigners.
They met online, got married, had a child, and then began dividing custody while dragging the societies of both countries into their family scandals. But, it turns out that some far- more terrifying cases exist. Irina Bergset has come across the problem of pedophilia in her own family. When the woman tried to report to the police, the local social services had declared her insane, took away her children, and threatened that if she does not retract her accusation, she will never see her children again.
In Russia, Irina lived quite well: graduated from MSU, worked within the State Duma apparatus, had an apartment, and a child. The only thing that was lacking was happiness in personal life. She tried resolving this problem by meeting someone on the Internet.
Problems started almost immediately after the honeymoon. Suddenly, it was discovered that, while she had married one Norwegian man, she would have to live with his entire family. The house was almost always full with not only the children from his previous marriages, but also his former wives and even mothers-in-law. At first, it seemed that many things could have been easily fixed. But even the birth of their child, two years later, could not save the marriage – it became even clearer that they were two completely different people.
“His older daughter had once said: that’s it, the Russian had completed her mission, gave birth to a healthy child, and now she can go back,” recalls Irina. After the husband began getting violent with her and the children, Irina took her kids and moved to a crisis shelter for abused women, and filed for divorce. For a year, the husband was not allowed to see their son. Irina had found an apartment and a job.
Life seemed to have been getting back to normal. “But suddenly, I was being pressured by my son’s kindergarten teachers – the child needs a father, you have to forgive your ex-husband and allow him to communicate with his son. I did not want any extra problems; besides, I thought this would have been best for everyone. And so I withdrew by complaint from the police,” says Irina.
In November of last year the husband took the son away to the countryside for five days to visit with relatives in the north of Norway. “The first thing the boy told me while getting into the car was – dad beat me very hard,” says Irina. “I, of course, immediately ran to the police. A while later, the boy admitted that the father and his relatives, among whom were older children from previous marriages, had used the boy and other young children in sexual orgies.”
In shock, Irina turned to the local child protection service. But after examining the boy, the staff members said that no bodily injuries were discovered, which means that the mother had made everything up. Moreover, in their final report, they had declared her practically insane, and recommended to take the kids away for the time of the investigation. On March 8, both kids were taken to a foster family, and Irina was sent to a local doctor.
After examining her, he concluded that the woman is under a lot of stress, but she is not insane. A week later, the kids were returned to her. There is little known here about the problem of sexual abuse of children in Europe. According to Save the Children, in 2010, every fifth child in Europe became victim of sexual abuse. In 85% of all cases the young child knows his aggressor, but 90% of such cases remain unreported.
Dr. Larisa Sazanovich, member of the Italian Professional League of Psychologists and Psychiatrists, has been working with victims of pedophilia for over 10 years. She is invited to serve as an expert in identifying signs of sexual abuse of children and their severity. Larisa Sazanovich told Izvestia that “today, pedophiles have learned to carefully hide physical sings of abuse, but psychological signs are enough to file a case in court”. On May 6, at the request of the Russian Embassy, Larissa had arrived in Oslo in order to examine Larisa’s child. Her official conclusion became available yesterday. It confirms that the child has psychosomatic signs that could indicate sexual abuse.
According to KRIPOS (Norwegian criminal police), 40,000 pedophiles reside in the country (in 2010, the country’s adult population numbered 3.8 million people). But about three out of four complaints are not investigated due to a lack of evidence. Incidentally, in Norway, false accusation in pedophilia is punishable by eight years in prison.
In March of this year, a high-profile trial was held in Norway on the so-called Alvdal case – the name of a small town. There, for over a number of years, two families and their friends had sexually abused five of their children aged six and younger. Charges were made against 10 people – eight men and two women.
The Russian Embassy has gotten involved in the case of Irina Bergset and her son. It has sent a request to the local police office to verify the Russian citizen’s claims of violence against her son. As was stated to Izvestia by the Second Secretary of the Consular Section, Mikhail Sidorkin, “the Embassy will seek an early and a detailed response from the police on the implemented measures and their results”.
However, Russian diplomats stress that their involvement in the case is limited, because it pertains to a child, who is not a Russian citizen. And that is another serious problem. Under the Russian law, these children may obtain a Russian citizenship only with the permission of the foreign parent. But in case of a conflict situation, that is impossible. Recently, Irina’s ex-husband wrote her a letter: “Don’t even hope, you will fail. The child will remain mine forever”. Incidentally, Mr. Bergset has married for the fourth time. And, again, to a Russian woman.
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