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Please help us to return Elvira home and support the families of other female activists in Belarus who suffer for their fight for human rights, justice, and democracy in the country.

On the 31 August 2017, 8 year-old Elvira from Minsk was taken away from her parents by the guardianship department and placed in a children’s home, where she is being kept until now. The official version of why Elvira was extracted from her family is that her mother is overprotecting and over-loving and thus abuses her parental rights; more specifically the family was accused of impeding the girl’s attendance of school. Elvira indeed spent most of her first school year home-schooling. This was, on one hand, an official decision of the school she attended. On the other hand it was also a result of

1. her mother’s conflict with the school administration regarding improper management of the school, which was confirmed later by a superior body (this was the first school Elvira attended);

2. school’s mismanagement of Elvira’s home-schooling process (the second school where Elvira was transferred).

To be clear, the quality of Elvira’s homeschooling was demonstrated by her success in the tests that allowed her to be transferred to the second grade, just days after the shock of the family separation. There are documents proving Elvira’s parents effort to enroll her into a primary school and documentary/ audio and video evidence of illegal actions against the family from the side of the public officials.

After examining the documents and supervising / attending meetings and correspondence of the Mironov family the team of experts of “Our House” and “Adliga” came to the conclusion that the family is being persecuted for their adherence to legality, the rule of law and human rights. We believe that the case of taking Elvira from the family is politically motivated and has a character of revenge on and pacification of a very vocal and active woman who also happened to be a mother. That is why we support the cause of bringing Elvira back home by providing help and assistance to the family, and sharing our knowledge and expertise.

Meanwhile, Elvira stays strong and is an inspiration to her parents. Some time ago she wrote herself a letter to the prosecutor office. The letter reads:

“Sir Prosecutor,
My name is Elvira and I am 8 years old. A wicked witch and her highwayman took me to the orphanage. I had a very good life with my Mom, Dad, brother and the rabbit. It is bad in the orphanage, everything here disgusts me. Mom and Dad are fighting the wicked witch to take me back home. I want to live at home with my family. Help me, my mom, and my dad to come back home into my friendly and good family.
Mironova Elvira”.

Please sign this petition to:

• • To request Elvira to be returned home;
  • To express solidarity with Elvira and her family;
  • To demand that the responsible representatives of the state bodies were held accountable for their actions;
  • To demonstrate concern regarding the using children to punish, pacify and manipulate their mothers/parents for being active citizens;

 

Please also kindly consider

• • Write a letter of support to Elvira’s family at [email protected]

• • Write a letter to Ms. Zakharevskaya demanding to return Elvira to her parents and to put an end to persecution of the Mironov family at: A.A. Zakharevskaya, ul. Kalvarijskaya d.39, kab. 410, Minsk, Belarus, 220073. Ms. Zakharevskaya also can be reached by e-mail [email protected] or by phone (work): 00 375 17 2047281.

• • Contact the director of the children’s home and demand to put an end to persecution of the Mironov family or enquire after Elvira’s wellbeing at: Marina Stankevich, SPC s priyutom Frunzenskogo r-na, Ulitsa Biryuzova 21, Minsk, 220073, Belarus; E-mail: [email protected]; FAX: ‎00 375 17 2072649; Phone: 00 375 17 2072590

• • Draw attention to the on-going (and spreading) practice of taking children away from homes as a way to control female activists and spread this story on social media. Feel free to contact the editor of the ‘Our House’ news website for more information [email protected]

Last supporters

20	Ola Alterå				Dec 04, 2017
19	Pedro Mendes				Dec 02, 2017
18	Marta Madej				Dec 02, 2017
17	April Le				Dec 02, 2017
16	Andrew Melling				Dec 02, 2017
15	Britt-Louise Berndtsson			Human rights	Dec 01, 2017
14	Ingrid Engström			Ingrid Engström	Dec 01, 2017
13	Sofia Jarl				Dec 01, 2017
12	Elena Gapova				Dec 01, 2017
11	Michael Sagorje			there is a special place in HELL for people who take a child from caring parents is	Dec 01, 2017
10	Iza Desperak				Dec 01, 2017
9	Chris de Lisle				Dec 01, 2017
8	Nathalie Margi				Dec 01, 2017
7	Vladislava Chalei				Dec 01, 2017
6	Olga Spaiser				Dec 01, 2017
5	Olga Karatch			return Elviru to home!	Dec 01, 2017
4	Olena Suslova			As a human rights activist since 1989 I can't to avoid it	Dec 01, 2017
3	Evgenia Ivanova				Nov 26, 2017
2	Robert Edison			Hold on!	Nov 26, 2017
1	Marie Harrison			Bring Elvira Mironova home!!	Nov 24, 2017