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Kidnapping Custom Makes A Comeback In Georgia

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  • Kidnapping Custom Makes A Comeback In Georgia

    KIDNAPPING CUSTOM MAKES A COMEBACK IN GEORGIA
    Anchors: Liane Hansen
    Reporters: Lawrence Sheets

    National Public Radio (NPR)
    SHOW: Weekend Edition Sunday 1200-1300 PM
    May 14, 2006 Sunday

    LIANE HANSEN, host:

    In some of the more remote parts of the former Soviet Union, there's
    been a resurgence of bride kidnapping. The ancient custom is being
    practiced in Kyrgyzstan and in some parts of the Caucusus Mountains.

    Women's groups in former Soviet Georgia are trying to draw attention
    to the kidnappings and to use new laws to curb the practice.

    NPR's Lawrence Sheets has this report from Georgia.

    LAWRENCE SHEETS reporting:

    In the remote mountain villages of the Javaheji(ph) region, the fall
    of communism led to a revival of the old ways, even in courtship.

    Lea(ph) Meidseradi(ph) had seen her husband-to-be Gia(ph) only once
    or twice, when he and some of his friends grabbed her off a village
    street, shoved her into a car and took her away to his relative's
    house.

    Ms. LEA MEIDSERADI (Kidnapped Bride): (Through translator) I told
    him I loved another boy, but he told me, even if you had five kids
    I wouldn't leave you alone.

    SHEETS: That time, Gia relented and he let Lea go. But Gia was
    persistent. He kidnapped Lea a total of four times, chasing her down a
    ravine in one case. Finally, Lea says, most people in her home village
    found out she'd been kidnapped and, thus, she had lost her honor.

    Ms. MEIDSERADI: (Through translator) He kidnapped me so many times
    and everyone knew. I started to be afraid that people might say I
    wasn't a virgin. So I just gave up, even though I wanted to run away.

    My family told me, there's nothing you can do now. You must marry him,
    otherwise you'll shame your brothers.

    SHEETS: After village elders celebrated by slaughtering a pig, Lea
    and Gia were married. She said she cried through the entire ceremony.

    Most so-called bride kidnappings -- called Motsatseva(ph) in Georgian
    -- are actually part of elaborate local courtship rights. Brides
    often give their consents to the so-called kidnappings as a way around
    parental opposition to the marriages. But locals estimate 20 percent or
    so are real kidnappings, done against the wishes of the would-be bride.

    Taquiv Aranan(ph) is a civic activist in the Javaheji region.

    Ms. TAQUIV ARANAN (Civic Activist, Javaheji Region): (Through
    translator) According to our mentality, after that kidnapping, even
    if she doesn't want the guy, she's forced to marry him. And they live
    without love. The woman becomes a slave and in these families there
    are many fights and beatings.

    SHEETS: Taquiv Aranan says that in Soviet times, bride kidnappings
    were very rare. But over the past decade there's been a big increase.

    She attributes the rise to post-Soviet poverty and the lack of ways for
    young people to interact in this highly conservative mountain region.

    Ms. ARANAN: (Through translator) When I was growing up in the Soviet
    period, there was a theater, places to meet, a youth club. Now there
    is nothing. We have to create new places where young people can meet.

    SHEETS: Until three years ago, kidnapping a woman for marriage was
    considered only a relatively minor infraction under Georgian law. It
    even fell under a separate statute. That law was scrapped and bride
    snatchers now theoretically face 15 years in prison, as any kidnapper
    would.

    Fifty mile away lies the predominantly ethnic Armenian town of
    Ahakalagi(ph), tucked under 10,000-foot high mountain peaks. Bride
    kidnapping is rarely discussed here, but a group of women is meeting
    to talk about the problem. Some of them are openly talking about it
    for the first time.

    Lawyer Anita Hoganisian(ph) encourages bride kidnapping victims
    to press criminal charges. But she says almost no young women do
    because of pressure from their families in this closely knit society
    to keep quiet.

    Ms. ONITA HOGANISIAN (Attorney): (Through translator) There are very
    many cases where the authorities blame this on our traditions. Young
    women have no social protection in our society and their families don't
    understand the problem. They see their daughters as having been shamed.

    SHEETS: Hoganisian says only five legal cases were opened in this
    region over the past year, though she believes the real numbers
    of bride kidnappings to be many times higher. And four of those
    five cases were dropped after the young women victims refused to
    cooperate. Hoganisian represented the only young woman who took her
    case all the way to a judge.

    Ms. HOGANISIAN: (Through translator) This girl was kidnapped by a
    distant relative, held for 48 hours and raped. But the guy was only
    given a suspended sentence because the girl's family evidently put
    pressure on the girl not to demand that he be punished.

    SHEETS: Hoganisian says the young girl now has been shamed into
    isolation. She refuses to even come out of her parents' house.

    (Soundbite of chatter)

    SHEETS: And although this women's forum is discussing ways to raise
    social awareness about bride kidnapping, not all in the room agree
    that the custom can be stopped.

    Ana Naktaktian(ph) is a 62-year-old former accountant.

    Ms. ANA NAKTAKTIAN (Former Accountant): (Through translator) It's a
    bad thing that this happens, but this has been going on for hundreds
    of years. There's nothing anyone can do about it. These are our
    traditions.

    SHEETS: Lea Meidseradi agrees with that. She's now been with her
    husband Gia for 15 years, since she was bride kidnapped. Lea says she
    hated her husband at first, but that things worked out fine in the end.

    Ms. MEIDSERADI: (Through translator) I got used to it. He's a very
    good husband and I quickly came to love him. Gia fought for his love.

    The main thing is for a boy to love you. The woman will love him later.

    SHEETS: Lea and Gia now have three children. Lea says she hopes her
    now 12-year-old daughter will get married by mutual consent one day.

    But Lea, an Orthodox Christian who now teaches religion in a public
    school here, says that if her daughter is bride kidnapped, so be it.

    It will be the will of God, she says.

    Lawrence Sheets, NPR News, Georgia.
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