Sister meets bullies in Spassk‑Dalny

The older sister of an 8‑year‑old pupil at School No. 12 in Spassk‑Dalny who became a victim of bullying by ninth‑grade girls met them and their parents at the school. They refuse to admit guilt, the young woman told a VLADIVOSTOK1.RU correspondent.

It turned out the meeting took place back on 19 September. Four ninth‑grade girls, the mothers of two of them, the school psychologist, and the administration were present. According to the victim’s sister, she was met with hostility and told that her parents should have come instead of her.

«When we arrived there, the question arose of what I was doing there. They hinted that I had no rights, but we prepared and drafted a power of attorney authorizing me to represent my sister’s interests», — the young woman said.

During the discussion of the conflict, participants were offered help from psychologists who could work with the initiators of the bullying and with the victim, but the latter’s sister declined.

«We decided that we don’t trust the school, and we don’t understand how the same psychologist can work simultaneously with the accused and with the victims. I believe that is unreasonable, so we declined. Now our refusal is being used to emphasize that they wanted to help us, and we didn’t take advantage of it», — she clarified.

It is also still unclear exactly how many perpetrators there were. Initially it was said that three ninth‑grade girls were involved in the bullying, but now it is reported that there were at least five. At the same time, only four schoolgirls came to the meeting.

«We still don’t have a complete list of those involved in the bullying. On our own we identified the names of four girls — we don’t see the fifth at all», — she said.

In the end, the conversation yielded no results. The victim’s sister informed the school administration that they want oversight agencies to conduct the further investigation. They are now awaiting the results.

The high‑profile story spread online on the evening of 17 September, and it was the victim’s sister who told it. It was reported that three ninth‑grade girls cornered a second‑grader in a restroom, mocked her, choked her, and tried to shove a toilet brush into her mouth, filming it all on video, while the school administration ignored the situation. The incident was discussed not only in Primorye (Primorsky Krai) but beyond, and the police, the prosecutor’s office, and the Investigative Committee of Russia (Sledkom, ICR) became involved, including its head Alexander Bastrykin. Later, a criminal case was opened against the ninth‑graders.

Later the situation began to take an unexpected turn. Some users started writing that the second‑grader made it all up and herself ran around with the brush, waving it near the ninth‑graders and making obscene gestures, and that they wanted to teach her a lesson. The head of Spassky District (Primorsky Krai), Oleg Mitrofanov, stated that the fact of bullying had not been confirmed and the girl had no bodily injuries. The victim’s sister responded to his message, pointing out that pain was inflicted on her sister without bodily harm.

In the end, the case drew the attention of Olga Romanova, the Children’s Rights Commissioner for Primorsky Krai (children’s ombudsman). She said she would conduct her own review, but she already has serious questions for the school, whose leadership failed to settle the conflict in time.

Read a full breakdown of the high‑profile bullying of the 8‑year‑old schoolgirl at this link.