Children’s Rights Activists Rally at US Embassy in Moscow

MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti) – A rally in support of children’s rights took place Monday outside the US Embassy in Moscow, combining expressions of sympathy for victims of the Conneticut school shooting with calls to protect Russian children adopted by US citizens.

Russian media have given extensive coverage to the shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults died.

“A tragedy like this brings us together, and we have come here to express our condolences,” said Yana Lantratova, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council.

She added that the people gathered outside the embassy also wanted to draw attention to the rights of Russian children adopted in the United States.

“We want to remember the tragedy of Dima Yakovlev, whose American father left him in a car under the burning sun, and just forgot about him. This man went on to be acquitted, and we consider this unacceptable,” she said.

“I want to stress that there are 19 known cases involving the death of Russian children adopted by Amercian parents, and who knows how many that we do not know about. We have no right to pass by and let this go unnoticed,” she added.

People at the rally carried photographs of Russian children who had suffered at the hands of their adoptive parents in the United States, and placards calling for criminal proceedings to be launched against those responsible, as well as those who failed to hold them accountable, including judges and employees of the child welfare system.

 

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