English

Khalip`s parents have one month to get custody of her small son

The grandparents of the small son of prominent journalist Iryna Khalip have a month to get legal custody of the child, Antanina Druhakova, an official at the education department of Minsk`s Partyzanski district, told BelaPAN on Monday.

Close relatives have a month to apply for legal custody of the child after the child welfare authorities put the kid on the list of children in need of care, the official said.

The district education department put three-year-old Danila on the list last week after being notified by the administration of the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) that his parents - Ms. Khalip and her husband, former presidential candidate, Alyaksandr Sannikaw - had been detained.

The boy has been cared for by Ms. Khalip`s parents after she and her husband were arrested over the opposition`s December 19 street protest.

On December 24, child welfare officers visited the boy’s kindergarten. The grandmother, Lyutsyna Khalip, rushed there after receiving a phone call from the institution. She draw up an application for custody of the boy on the spot.

Ms. Druhakova acknowledged that the child welfare officers visited the kindergarten but denied that they intended to remove the child. “We failed to reach the grandparents by phone. So, we went to the kindergarten,” she said.

The official said that Lyutsyna Khalip would have to undergo a comprehensive medical examination. A person appointed as a custodian must not have certain illnesses and health conditions, she said.

When asked what the child welfare authorities would do, if the grandmother is denied legal custody of Danila, Ms. Druhakova said that she could not imagine such a development.
Lyutsyna Khalip told BelaPAN that the boy stayed at home at present.

“I don’t understand why the mother of the three-year-old child should be held in custody and why she is not freed on her own recognizance on humanity grounds,” she said. “It appears that the small child has suffered most. He keeps asking about his parents and wants to phone his mother. And we do not know how Iryna and Andrey Sannikaw are.”