Rope perspective: what the court came to in the high-profile case of tying up children

The court accused Evgenia and Andrey Laznev, former tutors of the Buturlinovsky Boarding School for Mentally Retarded Children, of a crime under Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Failure to fulfill official duties in education." The case concerned a resonant story about the tying up of children in this DDI, where children with mental disabilities live. The Laznevs insist on their innocence and demand a review of the decision. They were the first to publicly acknowledge the problem at the boarding school when shocking photos with children tied up appeared online. Meanwhile, similar facts seem to be taking place now. Izvestia dealt with the oddities of the child-tying case.

What is the reason for the case in Buturlinovka?

The Buturlinovsky District Court issued a decision against the Laznevs on April 7. The defense has already filed an appeal. The couple intends to achieve justice, even though the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has expired, and the spouses will be released from punishment — fines of 90 and 100 thousand rubles. The Laznevs explain this decision by their desire to achieve justice.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Sergey Bobylev

In October 2022, shocking photos appeared in the Voronezh media: more than 10 pictures of children brutally tied to beds and benches on the street in Buturlinovsky Residential school. The pictures were accompanied by an explanation from an unnamed employee of the boarding school that bondage was practiced with the knowledge of the management, and the inspectors were allegedly regularly given dust in the eyes. At the time of the arrival of representatives of the regulatory authorities, the children had personal belongings, toys in the rooms, etc. Nikolai Skolznev was the director of the DDI at that time.

A little later, two boarding school teachers, Evgenia and Andrey Laznev, appeared in the media. They confirmed that the photos were indeed taken in Buturlinovka, having recognized the children as DDI's wards.

At the same time, the Department of Social Protection of the Voronezh Region then expressed the opinion that the information provided "is unreliable and provocative." But, nevertheless, they started checking.

Alla Dyachkova, First Deputy Minister of Social Protection of the Voronezh Region, told Izvestia that since 2020, the district and regional prosecutor's offices, Roszdravnadzor, Rospotrebnadzor and other control and supervisory authorities had visited the boarding school, but there were no facts of "violations of children's rights" and "the use of cruel measures against them (beating, tying to beds, closing in room)" it was not revealed. At the same time, the "increased attention" to the activities of the institution caused "tremendous stress" among the children and the staff.

Photo: IZVESTIA

Director Nikolai Skolznev was later fired and even sentenced to two years of probation in a negligence case. But not in connection with these photos — in December of the same year, a child fell out of the window of the boarding school and died from his injuries. And, apparently, frostbite — no one missed him, and he couldn't speak.

In a comment, Alla Dyachkova described Nikolai Skolznev as a "hard-working leader, a good business executive" who was "good-natured and correct" with his charges, "enjoyed authority among children and employees."

As a result, the only subsequent reaction to the publication of the shocking images was the accusation against the Laznevs, who turned out to be involved in the case of non—performance of official duties associated with ill-treatment (Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). It was to them that the investigators immediately came to search. The teachers immediately found themselves in the category of suspects, not witnesses. And later, only one photograph began to appear in the case, in which one of the bound pupils lay as if crucified.

Why were the Laznevs accused?

Evgenia Lazneva told Izvestia that she had been working at DDI since 2019, and her husband since 2014. She had seen the bound children at the boarding school before the publication in the media, but at first she mistakenly believed that this was how it should be.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Artyom Zhitenev

— Then they began to sort it out. On our own initiative, we went to other boarding schools, studied the laws, and talked with experts. And we found out that this is not the norm at all," she said. — We tried to convey this information to the management, we suggested: let's do something differently, it's impossible.

Evgenia Lazneva notes that it was not possible to reach the director of the boarding school. He's a former military man. According to open data, he served in one of the military units as a deputy commander for logistics. Evgenia Lazneva calls him a well-connected man and a really good business executive. One of the current employees, in a conversation with Izvestia, called him a "wonderful director."

However, the boarding school was more like a barracks than a children's institution, Evgenia Lazneva continues. It was closed to community activists and volunteers even in 2019, when it had already become the norm for this area. In 2020, attempts to open a boarding school for people from outside were hampered by the pandemic, but two years later, Andrei Laznev again raised the issue of reforming the DDI at one of the meetings. After that, something changed: in early October, the teacher was fired due to staff cuts.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko

Evgenia Lazneva suggests that the investigators came specifically to her family because she and her husband turned out to be very inconvenient for the leadership of the DDI and even spoke publicly after the publication of the photos.

Izvestia sent a request to the GSU of the Investigative Committee for the Voronezh Region on the situation with the case against the Laznevs.

How the Laznevs were tried

The verdict against the educators is available to Izvestia.

Many of the DDI staff involved in the case as witnesses characterize the Laznevs extremely positively. Several other employees, when interrogated at the rumor level, reported that this could allegedly be a stage production for the media to "take revenge" on Director Skolznev.

The investigators received the main testimony from the ward of DDI, who was diagnosed with mental retardation. He allegedly remembers Andrei Laznev tying up another child, while Evgenia Lazneva was taking pictures. The witness claims that, at the request of the educator, he helped hold the child being tied up.

Meanwhile, the testimony of the deputy director for medical and educational work is also attached to the case, which characterizes the ward who testified against the Laznevs as "prone to slander, lies, and slander," although it indicates that this mainly concerns students of the DDI.

Maria Ostrovskaya, president of the St. Petersburg charitable public organization Perspektivy, called the boarding school ward who testified against Andrei and Evgenia Laznev "a pupil who has been lured by the institution's administration and has various privileges." According to her, he helps in the kitchen, she and her brother have their own strawberry garden on the territory of the boarding school, which others do not have.

"When we were at the boarding school, I saw his relationship with the administration," she said. — And he, of course, says what he was taught. After all, privileges are all he has. That is, a person does not have a family, but there is a boarding school management that favors him.

The testimony of a psychiatrist from the Lipetsk Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Sergei Dmitrienkov, is also interesting. Having studied the photographs and diagnoses of the children, he came to the conclusion that, in principle, "measures of physical restraint" can be applied to them. In his opinion, it is impossible to fix it with handcuffs, but it is possible with ribbons, elastic strips of cloth, etc. He recognized only photograph No. 10 as a categorically unacceptable method of fixation — exactly the one that Laznev was accused of "staging". The question of where the rest of the pictures came from was no longer investigated during the investigation.

Is tying up children acceptable

Anna Bitova, the founder of the Center for Curative Pedagogy and a member of the Council of the Government of the Russian Federation on Guardianship in the social sphere, told Izvestia that she had been monitoring the situation from the very beginning, having received these photos simultaneously with the Voronezh media.

— I have been to this institution more than once. I often visit other educational institutions throughout the country. I am sure that the fixation of children is used in most boarding schools to one degree or another," she said. — This is always evident in the child's behavior, posture, and movements, but it is difficult to prove this. The Laznevs attempted to combat this inhumane practice, but ended up under investigation themselves.

Anna Bitova emphasizes that she was ready to appear in court as an expert and witness, including to tell about what she observed in the Buturlinovsky DDI herself, but the court rejected the defense's request to summon her.

— From the very beginning, this trial did not go the way of solving the problem. It's being hushed up, not eliminated," she said.

Alexander Gaganov, a lawyer for the Region of Care project of the Popular Front, emphasizes that tying up children is unacceptable in the DDI, since it is a social service organization, not a psychiatric hospital.

"It is prohibited to use physical or psychological violence against recipients of social services in social service organizations," he told Izvestia. — Measures of physical restraint are applicable only in case of involuntary — that is, by court order — hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital.

He added that children's boarding schools, as a rule, do not have a medical license to provide psychiatric care in inpatient settings. And the children live there de jure on a voluntary basis, either at the request of their parents or guardians, or by decision of the guardianship authority.

Maria Ostrovskaya also notes that in boarding schools for children with mental disabilities, the binding of the most severe pupils is very often used. She didn't see it in Buturlinovka, but she was there after the photos were published.

Experts believe that children are being fixed in boarding schools with a serious shortage of staff: sometimes there may be 20 or more children per nurse. In this situation, employees commit child abuse. The closeness of the institutions is also very disturbing: the Buturlinovsky DDI was closed under Nikolai Skolznev for volunteers, and is actually closed now, under the new director. For comparison, in one of the boarding schools for children with mental disabilities, which is often cited as an example, Mayak in Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod region, there are 230 volunteers for 92 pupils who come with varying frequency to help with household chores.

— It is necessary to increase the staff in boarding schools: tutors, nurses, assistants, — says Anna Bitova. — The guys should have classes. Institutions should be integrated into the social infrastructure. And if the fixation procedure is necessary right now for the sake of the child's safety, then it should be transparent and regulated by law, limited in time, prescribed by a doctor with a mandatory entry in the medical record.

Izvestia also interviewed current employees of the Buturlinovsky DDI. The vast majority of them refused to speak even on condition of anonymity, but one of the staff confirmed that bondage is still used in the boarding school.

Izvestia will monitor the situation.