Nicolas

NGO 2020.04.28 Appeal to Red Cross Geneve

The coronavirus-infected Monastery St. Elisabeth in Minsk, Belarus

The Corona-Infected Monastery St. Elisabeth in Minsk

The Health Status of My Abducted Children

From:

Nicolaos Cheropoulos
Dansbanevägen 28, 1201
12631 HÄGERSTEN
Sweden

E-Mail: nicolas.cheropoulos@gmail.com

Website: http://actionagainstchildabduction.com/

To:

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
P.O. Box 303
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland

Re: Status of my abducted children at the coronavirus-infected Monastery in Minsk, Belarus

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Nicolas Cheropoulos, I am a Swedish citizen, and I am reaching out to you with my plea for help for my two abducted daughters, Swedish citizens Anthie’ and Alexandra Cheropoulos, who were abducted to Belarus three years ago by their Belarusian mother (a non-Swedish citizen), Ms. Liudmila Trafimovich.

Since then, I am battling with all the legal means to get them back home to Sweden, however, Belarus, which is already well-known for their totalitarian President and their complete ignorance of international treaties (including human rights), ignores any valid international agreements related to the Hague Abduction Convention and although I have been granted the full custody of my children by a Swedish court, Belarus is not returning my children.

I could write a book about what I have been through during these three years, and you can read some details about this story on the website that I created and dedicated to my daughters (and to all of the abducted children and their left-behind parents in the world):

ActionAgainstChildAbduction.com

I have learned last year only (and, after months and months of my own investigation and thanks to many letters sent to Belarusian authorities by myself) that my children have been placed without my knowledge or approval into an ultra-orthodox hard-core Russian Monastery in Minsk, Belarus (“Saint Elisabeth Convent”) which is located at Ulitsa Vygotskogo 6, Minsk, Belarus.

This contradicts even the Belarusian local laws in regards to the Belarusian Rights of the Child – please see Article 10: The right to religious freedom of minors is guaranteed by Article 10 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Rights of the Child”.

According to the article, every child has the right to independently determine their attitude to religion, profess any religion, or not to profess any. In addition, Belarusian family law also stipulates that all issues regarding the forms and methods of raising children, their education, attitude to religion, organization of spare time, and other issues of raising children shall be resolved by both parents by mutual consent.

My ex-partner obviously ignored our daughters’ rights (and my rights as well) and simply moved with them into the Monastery because she is a follower of this hardcore type of religion. She put the kids into the Monastery school, she forces them to follow all the religious rites based on her own beliefs, they are forced to live a monastery life that is definitely not a standard or a normal way of growing up for any child at all; and, she ignores my custody rights and does not let me speak with my children even over the phone at all. She ignores my messages and sends me only a couple of indifferent answers per year.

Unfortunately, neither the Swedish nor the Belarusian relevant government authorities are helping me much to get access to my children, and they do not follow up on them at all. They basically left them to the mercy of my ex-partner, who now does with them whatever she wants to.

This story now becomes even worse with the emergence of the deadly COVID-19 virus. Monasteries in general are a perfect target for this virus, and this specific Monastery has also been infected with it, and, really badly.

The Abductor of my children, Ms. Liudmila Trafimovich, works there as a medical aide, which means that she is now taking care of the COVID-19 patients in the Monastery, and she and our children are obviously greatly and directly exposed to the deadly virus.

Meanwhile, the local and international press have already reported last week about a violent outbreak of the virus at this specific Monastery where, apparently, 100 out of 130 nuns are sick with the virus. This represents ~77% of the Monastery nun population, excluding the number of priests that also fell ill (!).

The Coronavirus infection is coming from St. Elisabeth Monastery

I have previously been reaching out to the Swedish authorities to ask them for any information in regards to my children in light of the virus outbreak in Belarus. Unfortunately, I have an extremely bad experience with the Swedish authorities in regards to the quality of their work or services that are (not) provided to their own citizen (neither to me nor to my children).

To this day, I have not received any clear answer in regards to where my children are, who is taking care of them, what their health status is, and, most importantly, when will the Swedish government finally help to remove them from this virus-infested, dangerous, and sick location.

Since my children are currently in imminent danger to their health and lives, I am kindly asking your Organization for your help in this matter.

Please let me know if any questions.