Prosecutors in Russia are seeking to strip a couple of parental rights after they took their one-year-old son to an unsanctioned opposition protest.<\/p>\n
They said in a statement that the couple had put the baby’s life in danger by giving him to a third person.<\/p>\n
The couple told BBC Russian they simply gave their child to a friend to hold.<\/p>\n
The 27 July demonstration was one of a series of protests<\/a>\u00a0against the exclusion of opposition candidates in Moscow city elections next month.<\/p>\n Thousands were detained at the protest and at another a week later.<\/p>\n In a statement (in Russian) published on its website,\u00a0the Moscow city prosecutor’s office said it had asked a court to remove the couple’s rights as parents.<\/a><\/p>\n “During the rally the parents handed their young child, who was in a helpless state due to his age, to a third person thus endangering the boy’s health and life,” the statement said.<\/p>\n “And so by exploiting the child, the parents abused their parental rights to the detriment of their son’s interests.”<\/p>\n The prosecutors also said the child’s father had temporary residence in Moscow and therefore did not have a vote in the elections.<\/p>\n The statement added that other parents who had brought young children, as well as people who had encouraged minors to go to the demonstrations – on 27 July and 3 August – were being investigated.<\/p>\n The couple, named as Dmitry and Olga Prokazov, said they had simply been out for a walk when they came upon the protesters.<\/p>\n “We knew that a rally for honest elections was being planned, and we were in solidarity with this… and so we weren’t afraid,” Mr Prokazov said.<\/p>\n He said they had seen their friend Sergey Fomin among a group of protesters and suggested that he leave with them. He agreed and at some point Dmitry gave Sergey the baby to hold.<\/p>\n He described Sergey as his best friend, and said he was his wife’s cousin and godfather to his eldest son.<\/p>\n “It didn’t even occur to me that I was doing something remotely wrong,” he added.<\/p>\n Investigators say Sergey Fomin is being sought by police for taking part in the protests, adding that he took someone else’s child as a way to get through police encirclement of the demonstrators. His whereabouts is unknown.<\/p>\n Some officials have criticised the prosecutors’ move.<\/p>\n “It’s unacceptable in any political situation to blackmail using children,” Moscow children’s rights ombudsman Yevgeny Bunimovich told Moscow Echo radio.<\/p>\n Russian Human Rights Council head Mikhail Fedotov said the third person argument risked causing problems for nannies, grandparents and others.<\/p>\n “By creating a precedent, we risk creating a headache for all parents,” he told Interfax news agency.<\/p>\n More than 1,000 people were detained at the 27 July rally, in one of the biggest crackdowns in years.<\/p>\n A week later, more than 600 people were arrested at a similar protest, with reports of police violence.<\/p>\n Alexei Navalny, Lyubov Sobol and other opposition leaders have been arrested and jailed in connection with the rallies.<\/p>\n Election authorities have barred opposition candidates from taking part in Moscow city authority elections planned for 8 September.<\/p>\n Officials said many of the signatures required for their candidacy applications were invalid. But protesters say they were excluded for political reasons.<\/p>\n Ms Sobol, who is on hunger strike, and others have called on Muscovites to join an officially sanctioned rally on 10 August.<\/p>\n Mr Navalny fell ill in jail with a swollen face and rashes over his body, and was briefly hospitalised.<\/p>\n Doctors said he had had an extreme allergic reaction, but\u00a0Mr Navalny and his personal doctor said he might have been poisoned<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do the prosecutors say?<\/h2>\n
And the parents?<\/h2>\n
‘Creating a headache’<\/h2>\n
What are the protests about?<\/h2>\n