Day four since kidnapping of 17-year-old girl in Georgia
It has been four days since the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl who was kidnapped on 12 October from her home in Lambalo, Georgia. The kidnapping was allegedly for the purposes of marriage.
Although the family and the police know the identity of the kidnapper, they have still been unable to find the perpetrator.
Almost 99 per cent of the residents in Lambalo village, Sagaredzhoy region, are ethnic Azerbaijanis.
The abduction of girls for the purposes of marriage is still very common among the Azerbaijani community of Georgia.
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Netgazeti talked to Qazqnfar Mamedov, a relative of the kidnapped girl. Mamedov says that the girl’s family still does not know anything regarding her condition:
“We want to see first of all that she hasn’t been harmed physically,” he said.
Shortly before the abduction, the girl returned from school and was having dinner with her 12-year-old sister. The kidnappers broke into the house after the father left the premises, and took the girl in front of her younger sister:
“It was about six in the evening or a quarter past six. It turns out that she was being watched from outside, and as soon as her father left and moved away from the house, they broke in and dragged her out. Since then, no one has seen her, and we do not know [where she is]. The police searched all night, and we also searched, but they couldn’t find a trace of her,” says Mamedov.
He said the girl did not know her kidnappers:
“She is 17 years old. She studied, did not plan [such a thing], and they personally did not know each other. [She was taken away] with force, [and was] shouting, screaming and choking,” Mammadov said.
Also read: Georgia: The state trading in girls
According to Mamedov, the girl’s family already knows the identity of the alleged kidnapper:
“We learned from family and from friends … There are eyewitnesses in the village who said they saw who was driving … We don’t know what is happening, because the guy, who is said to have kidnapped her for the purposes of marriage, was already engaged to another girl – he has a bride,” says Mamedov.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs says the police are actively looking for the kidnappers. The investigation is being conducted under Article 143 of the Criminal Code regarding unlawful imprisonment which is punishable by a sentence of two to four years in prison.
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• Several dozen female schoolgirls are abducted in Georgia every year for marriage purposes.
• Statistics: the Ombudsman’s 2016 report stated that 408 students between the ages of 13 to 17 stopped studying in 2015 in order to start a family, and 168 cases were students waited until their 18th birthday. In 2017 the Ombudsman’s Office investigated 98 cases of early marriage. However, it is noted that these statistics are incorrect and that there are in fact far more such cases.
• The situation is especially concentrated in areas where ethnic Azerbaijanis live close together. Early marriages there are in the order of things and, as locals say, are part of the Azerbaijani tradition.
• According to Article 140 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, sexual contact of an adult with a person under the age of 16 is illegal. Despite legislative amendments, early marriages continue to occur.
• Abducted girls are often not supported by their own families, who refuse to take them back afterwards as they are considered “disgraced”. Girls are not protected by the state, which makes deals with the kidnappers. Elders of the community, relatives and neighbors also shy away from the girls.
