And they aren’t happy. We covered Isaac’s case and the pathetic not guilty verdict that occurred a month ago. If Brian Dykstra, the adoptive father, was convicted, he could have received up to 50 years in prison.
Another Russian orphan dies in the US [The Voice of Russia 12/2/11 by Mamonov Roman] reports “”Russia is unhappy with the fact that US officials tried to conceal the death from Russian diplomats and from the Ministry of Education which is in charge of adoptions. Astakhov wants Russia’s Foreign Ministry to send a protest note over the delay in providing information about the crime.
Representative of the EU Chamber of Advocates Alexander Trishchev agrees.”
“The Moscow-Washington relations have been blighted by a new adoption scandal again. Recently, Russia’s children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov accidentally found out about the 2005 death of a 1,5-year old Russian orphan Isaac Dykstra (Ilya Kargyntsev) in Iowa.
The boy died in hospital of a skull fracture, cerebral edema and other injuries three months after the adoption. The police arrested the boy’s father, Brian, who looked after him while his mother was away. Mr.Dykstra denied everything, claiming that the boy had fallen off a ladder and also had an illness.
The jury acquitted the father even despite testimonies and he was released on 15,000 dollar bail even though the prosecutors had charged him with second degree murder for which, if convicted, he could spend up to 50 years in prison.
This case raises a lot of questions. Doctors and firefighters who arrived on the scene say that Brian was behaving oddly, was nervous and did nothing to help the boy. The doctors said that the injuries were too serious to have been caused by a fall.
Now Russian investigators will be conducting their own probe, says the country’s Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin.
“Russian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the 2005 death of 1,5-year old Isaac Dykstra who was adopted from Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region.”
“Such an outrageous death of a child should be thoroughly investigated regardless of whether the child was Russian or American. Any country should primarily focus on adopted children. We need bilateral agreements, commissions and procedures to supervise our orphans adopted by foreign families.
Russia’s Duma hasn’t ratified such an agreement with the US and our lawyers can’t interfere in the orphans’ cases in the absence of legally binding agreements.”
Recently, a US court has freed the Cravers who had been charged with an involuntary manslaughter of their adopted son Vanya Skorobogatov.
Ilya was the 19th Russian orphan who died in a US family.”
Update: “Russia’s investigation committee opened a separate inquiry on Tuesday into the death of a Russian toddler whose adoptive parent was acquitted in the United States, the committee’s website said.
Early last month a U.S. court in Iowa cleared 35-year-old Brian Dykstra of murder charges in the death of 18-month-old Isaac Dykstra, who died of head injuries in the U.S. in 2005 three months after adoption. Brian Dykstra had blamed the death on the boy’s pre-existing ailments.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a domestic investigation. Under Russian law, the culprit might face a life sentence if found guilty.
“If there is an acquittal abroad, there are no legal obstacles to a Russian criminal prosecution of a person who committed a crime against Russian interests or a Russian citizen,” the investigative committee said.
The U.S. authorities failed to inform Russia of the boy’s death and their investigation.
The Russian investigators said they would check the adoption procedures of other Russian children abroad who died or suffered abuse. A total of 19 children adopted in Russia have died at the hands of their adoptive parents in the U.S. since the early 1990s, according to Russian children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov.
In a similar development, a court in Pennsylvania sentenced Michael and Nanette Craver to 16 months in jail two weeks ago after they were found guilty of the involuntarily manslaughter of their adopted Russian son Ivan who had been found dead with at least 80 injuries on his body.
Russian child adoption cases in the U.S. tend to come into the spotlight in a clear sign of aggravating relations between Moscow and Washington. Relations indeed have been rather bumpy in the wake of the U.S. missile defense plans and Russia’s parliamentary elections.”
Russia opens probe into death of adopted boy in U.S.
[RIA Novosti 12/6/11]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
I can't for one moment believe that State didn't know about the Dykstra case. I've been writing about it since 2008. You've written about it. It's in Pound Pup's file. It was all over adoption reform. State is either incompetent or lying. Most likely both.