Bride kidnapper in Chechnya will not be convicted: the girl herself agreed to abduction

The first case in Chechnya after introduction of an official ban on bride abduction with the aim to force a girl into marriage may remain without consequences for the kidnappers. It became clear that the 14-year-old schoolgirl figuring in the case herself had asked her husband to abduct her, as reported by a source from the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

On October 28, in one of the villages of the mountainous Nozhai-Yurt District two young men kidnapped a daughter of the local mullah, as one of the kidnappers was going to legally marry her. Two weeks before the incident, the Chechen leadership and local clergy banned the practice of bride abduction, saying that abduction of girls with the aim of marriage would be fined by 1 million roubles.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a source from the MIA that an investigation was undertaken on the incident. "Both the kidnappers and the schoolgirl assert that it all happened with the mutual consent of the parties," said the source.

The girl got into the car on her own will and drove away with her lover and his friend. "Without an application of the victim or her parents, it is not possible to initiate criminal punishment of the kidnappers," the MIA reports.