Potential Irregularities in Deaf Case Verdict Suggested by Fedora's Defense
Yakutia Information
The defense of Valentina Fedorova, a woman convicted in a high-profile case, has lodged an appeal with the Judicial College of the Supreme Court of Yakutia, citing potential violations in the verdict handed down by Judge Alexei Petrov of the Yakutsk City Court.
The appeal asserts several missteps, including substantial violations of criminal procedure law and inconsistencies between the court's findings and the facts of the case.
A key contention lies in the verdict's reference to timeframes during which Fedorova is said to have committed criminal acts. For example, the verdict claims that from October 1, 2019, to October 31, 2019, while working at a boarding school, Fedorova allegedly inflicted bodily harm on a girl who lodged a complaint. However, documents from the GKOU "Republican Special (Correctional) Boarding School for Deaf Children" dated April 12, 2024, show that Fedorova was dismissed on her own accord on October 22, 2019, and was not rehired until September 1, 2020.
Similarly, the verdict states that Fedorova beat children from November 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022. yet, the same documents indicate that she was on vacation from November 22 to 27, 2022.
Throughout the trial, Fedorova repeatedly claimed that manipulations and pressure were employed during the interrogations of minor victims. According to her, some of their statements were not translated, and the interpreter asked additional questions, suggesting what to say. The interpreter during the children's interrogations was a school employee, Protopopova, who was also a witness to certain circumstances pertinent to the trial. Fedorova and witness Anisimova accused this person of bias due to their dependence on the school's management.
A previous expert evaluation by Vasily Belov, a Professor and Doctor of Medical and Psychological Sciences, raised the assumption that in the video where children complained about Fedorenko, there were signs of manipulation (hidden behavior control) for the purpose of obtaining desirable answers. In contrast, according to Belov's conclusion, the video recordings where elementary school students complained about the school's employee Lyubov Prokopyeva showed the reliability of their statements.
On January 15, 2024, a criminal case was opened regarding the events at the school-intermediate institution and is being considered under the provisions of points "a" and "g" of part 2 of article 117 of the RF Criminal Code (torture of minors). Fedorova was found guilty of committing a crime under these points and part 2 of article 307 of the RF Criminal Code (knowingly false testimony). The court's verdict imposed a four-year prison term in a general-regime colony.
The court additionally ordered Fedorenko to pay compensation of 150 thousand rubles each to four underage victims and placed an arrest on her property - an apartment and a land plot. However, Fedorenko could not be taken into custody in the courtroom due to a nervous breakdown, and she is currently in a psychiatric hospital.
- Tags:
- Supreme Court of Yakutia
- criminal case
- Valentina Fedorenko
- Republican Special (Correctional) School-Intermediate Institution for Hearing-Impaired Students
- Lyubov Prokopyeva
- School for the Hearing-Impaired
- Judge Alexei Petrov
- torture of minors
- In light of the ongoing appeal to the Supreme Court of Yakutia, it is worth considering the potential impact of the case on the fields of science, health-and-wellness, and mental-health, especially given the allegations of manipulation and pressure during interrogations of minors.
- Amidst the discussion of the role of education and self-development in shaping a society's values, the case of Valentina Fedorova raises questions about the school environment, as incidents of alleged bodily harm, false testimony, and torture of minors are brought to light, necessitating thorough examination and measures for improvement.
