"We hugged and drove the whole way embracing." A Belarusian woman's daughter, secretly taken to Estonia by her father, has been returned.

"The Estonian police called and said that the daughter was at her father's home"

This summer, the story of Alena from Maryina Gorka became known. Her ex-husband, in defiance of a court order, took their young daughter to his homeland. On June 27, the man took the girl for a walk at 11 a.m., but by the agreed time of seven in the evening, he had not returned her. The worried mother immediately suspected something was wrong: her relationship with her ex-husband was complicated.

"Even then, my ex-husband made it clear that he might take Dasha to Estonia. I perfectly understood that it would be practically impossible to return her to Belarus, so I categorically opposed any trips and, through the court, secured a ban on the child leaving the country without my written consent," Alena recounted.

On the day it became clear that the father had disappeared with the child, the woman alerted all agencies that could help in this situation. However, the man still managed to take Dasha to Russia, and from there transported her to Estonia via the Ivangorod — Narva checkpoint. Only two days after her daughter's disappearance did Alena receive a call from the Estonian police confirming: the girl was at her father's home.

The mother was able to see her daughter only ten days after her disappearance: the ex-husband contacted her via video call, showed Dasha, and said he had no plans to return her.

Immediately after her daughter was taken, Alena appealed to the Ministries of Justice of both countries — Belarus and Estonia. And now, after almost three months of separation and uncertainty, she was finally able to hug her child.

The Return. "I didn't believe him when he wrote that he would bring our daughter to the border"

On September 11, the Estonian court ruled for the return of 4-year-old Darya to her mother in Belarus. The father was offered to voluntarily transfer the girl within 14 days after the decision came into legal force.

On Saturday, September 19, the long-awaited transfer of the girl took place at the Medininkai — Kamenny Log checkpoint. Alena announced this on her Threads account, where she had been sharing detailed updates on the events throughout these months.

Павялічыць

— Alena, tell us, what happened during all these months? What exactly helped bring your daughter home? Your case is unique in its own way.

— Immediately after my daughter's disappearance, I prepared and sent a package of documents to the Ministry of Justice of Belarus, and also duplicated it by email to the Ministry of Justice of Estonia. In parallel, I found an Estonian lawyer who filed a lawsuit on my behalf in court for the child's return based on the Hague Convention (the Hague Convention, adopted in 1980, is an international agreement designed to quickly return children home when one parent secretly takes them to another country without the consent of the other). On July 21, the Estonian court officially registered the lawsuit and scheduled the first hearing for August 10.

Alena attended the hearing via video link and saw only the interpreter on screen. According to her, even then the judge made it clear: the child must be returned to Belarus. However, after this, the process was somewhat delayed.

— A child's lawyer was appointed for my daughter — this is standard practice there. He suggested that my ex-husband and I conclude a notarized agreement in Belarus, stipulating the conditions for the child's return and the procedure for further communication with the father. But the Estonian court explained that all main issues regarding the daughter's fate (including determining her place of residence) could only be resolved by a Belarusian court, as the child had lived in Belarus for three years before being taken. The powers of the foreign court were limited exclusively to the child's return within the framework of the Hague Convention.

And we couldn't conclude an agreement on a number of issues, including because my ex-husband was afraid to go to Minsk. Therefore, while awaiting the decision, I constantly wrote to the Estonian Ministry of Justice about the delays and even appealed to the parliament of that country.

The verdict, says Alena, was promised for September 7 — just three days before Dasha's fifth birthday. But because Alena's ex-husband did not timely provide information about who exactly would bring the child to the border — himself or his uncle — the date was again postponed.

Павялічыць

— I don't know what exactly worked — my appeals to the Ministry of Justice or the media publications, but on September 11, the court ordered the return of my daughter to Belarus within two weeks. Honestly, I was afraid that my ex-husband would try to delay the process again, and I was in shock when on September 17, around ten in the evening, he wrote: on Saturday, the 19th, his relative would bring Dasha to the border.

The next morning I immediately contacted our Ministry of Justice, sent the court decision, and wrote a statement so that the border guards would let my daughter through.

By 11 a.m. I was already standing at the border with her Belarusian passport, feeling very anxious. 40 minutes later, the border guards called and said: "The child is on our side" — and literally, all the anxiety left my heart. We hugged and drove the whole way embracing.

At home, Dasha immediately ran to unwrap presents — because she recently had her birthday — and then said: "Mommy, this is my best birthday ever!"

According to Alena, Dasha has already gone to kindergarten today.

— On Sunday we went to Minsk: we walked around the city, went to a cafe with hedgehogs. I wanted to take a few more days off to stay home with my daughter, but she said: "I want to go to the children!".

Apparently, she really missed live communication. At the kindergarten, the children immediately surrounded her and started hugging her... The isolation must have taken its toll. As far as I understand, for two and a half months, besides her father and his relatives, she saw no one else.

It seems to me that Dasha has grown and matured a lot during our separation. Whether this abduction will affect her psyche remains to be seen; we need to observe her. If necessary, we will definitely seek help from a child psychologist.

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