Mother of missing girl detained on torture charges

The mother of the girl that went missing in the Lagoysk district is facing criminal charges of torture, the local police department told the European Radio for Belarus. “A criminal case has been opened against the girl's mother under Article 154 (torturing) in the Penal Code. Local residents and neighbors testified to investigators that the girl had been routinely beaten up. On November 29, her mother was detained for three days", a police spokesman said.

Iryna Kuzhelnaya, 7 went missing in the Lagoysk woods on November 23. In the view of police officials, the girl might be alive.

She is likely to be hiding from her mother who was once deprived of parental rights. Iryna had to live in an orphanage for a while back then.