Police probe Sochi kindergarten after parents report abuse

Shocked mothers of children attending local kindergarten No. 35 on Truda Street in the KSM microdistrict filed a complaint at the police station in the Makarenko microdistrict of the Sochi Police Department. They reported abuse and beatings at the childcare facility.

«Police officers went to the facility and interviewed staff, and parents of the minors were also interviewed. Forensic medical examinations have been ordered. CCTV recordings have been seized and are being studied. For further investigation, the inspection materials will be transferred to the investigative authorities,» the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory reported.

Details of the incident were reported by the Telegram channel «Typical Sochi». The mother of one of the kindergarten pupils noticed unusual behavior in her child after attending the kindergarten, as well as injuries on his body. The woman hid a voice recorder in the group. After listening to the recording, she was horrified: the children were beaten, dragged by the hair, yelled at, and cursed — abused in every possible way, taking advantage of the fact that these were children with special needs who could not complain.

In the parent chat, it emerged that other mothers had also noticed bruises, abrasions, and pulled-out clumps of hair on their children, and the children«s behavior had changed drastically.

According to the parents, the head of the preschool institution for a long time refused to allow them to view the camera recordings, citing various circumstances. Eventually, after the police report, the videos were viewed and, despite the poor recording quality, they proved that the children had been beaten.

The Sochi Municipal Control Center (MCC) reported that the city«s Department of Education had conducted an internal investigation.

«The facts have been partially confirmed. As a result of the investigation, the guilty teachers have been dismissed,» the MCC reported.

However, the parents demand that the educators be punished to the fullest extent of the law and hope that the Investigative Committee will look into the matter.

As a reminder, in July 2023, two educators from a private children«s center in Sochi, Yekaterina Kulisevich and Liya Badirova, were convicted of torturing children with autism. They were found guilty of improper performance of duties in raising a minor by an employee of an organization obligated to supervise a minor, if that act was accompanied by cruel treatment of the minor and torture. Badirova was also found guilty of providing services that did not meet consumer health safety requirements.

The court found the defendants guilty and sentenced each to 3 years and 2 months in a general-regime penal colony. Both women are barred from engaging in activities related to working with children.