The chairman of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, Georgy Volkov, reported to socialbites.ca that he and the business ombudsman, Tatyana Mineeva, visited pre-trial detention center number 6, known as Pechatniki. They spoke with Valeria Fedyakina, who is widely referred to by the blogger alias Bitmama. At the time of the visit, she was staying in close proximity to her infant child. Volkov noted that Fedyakina appeared to be struggling with depression but remained determined, and he emphasized that her current preventive measure should not involve outright imprisonment. He suggested that other supervisory options could be employed to ensure compliance with legal requirements.
According to Volkov, a mother with a two to three month old baby in her arms facing imprisonment is a distressing image. He expressed the belief that a young woman who has not committed a violent crime should not be confined in a cell with an infant. While he acknowledged her psychological strain, he argued that the state possesses the means to supervise such cases through house arrest and electronic monitoring, which would prevent violations of restrictive measures. Volkov also pointed out that certain procedural controls, such as confiscation of foreign passports, can limit a person’s opportunities while preserving freedoms in other respects. In his view, the risk was that placing a mother and child in a pre-trial detention facility runs counter to the welfare of the child and the mother. He argued for alternatives to deprivation of liberty, and he reminded readers that in cases of very serious crimes, the legislator allows the child under three years of age to stay with the mother, including in pre-trial detention, only if the mother agrees to the arrangement. He concluded that this could be an excessively preventive measure when weighed against the potential harm to a child and the mother’s rights.
Volkov added that Fedyakina remains hopeful about changing her preventive measure. While attention is focused on women with children in detention, he noted that living in the same cell as a baby is not easy for the person involved.
According to Volkov, there are moments when Fedyakina exhibits cheerfulness despite visible mood difficulties. She hopes that investigators and the courts will move her to a different preventive measure to avoid sharing a cell with the child. Sharing a cell with a baby is challenging on moral, financial, daily, and physical fronts. The living conditions in the facility are not viewed as harsh by other inmates, because mothers with babies receive special consideration from the detention facility administration and human rights advocates. Yet, the direct consequence of a mother being housed with her child raises numerous questions about policy and practice. In remarks echoed across multiple platforms, the idea of “humanizing” state procedures has been acknowledged, though some gaps persist. The speaker expressed a personal stance as a parent and a human rights advocate, hoping for reforms to address these concerns.
Blogger Valeria Fedyakina, widely known as Bitmama, was detained in Moscow in September 2023. She faced accusations of large-scale fraud. According to the Baza Telegram channel, a former acquaintance alleged that Fedyakina deceived him by taking 6.7 billion rubles, promising to return the money with a 1% bonus, only to disappear. The court ordered her detention pending investigation, despite her being six months pregnant at the time of the arrest.
Earlier statements indicated that Blinovskaya, who also spent time in the pre-trial detention facility, was prepared to do anything to see her children, underscoring the emotional toll of such detentions on families.