How Could You? Hall of Shame-Italy-Russian Adoptee Maxim (Kichigin) Maravalle case-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Pescara, Italy, on July 17,2014 adoptive father Massimo Maravalle,47,” admitted that during the night” that  Maxim Maravalle,5, was strangled with a pillow.

Massimo Maravelle is married to Patricia Silvestri.

“Lifeless body a few hours later and found the mother rushed to call the emergency services. Woman begged to send an ambulance, but the dispatcher suspected criminals and at the same time sent a police patrol.

On the neck of the baby arrived doctors found traces of asphyxiation and immediately arrested adoptive father. He did not deny it and said that he had killed a child in a fit of madness.
As it turned out, for many years Maravalle suffered from a mental disorder. He took some medication prescribed by the doctor, but some time ago abandonment of reception. Surrounding his illness did not know – all who are familiar with Massimo, considered him an ideal husband and father.”

“Italian Maravalle Massimo and his wife took 2.5 years ago (May 2012) a boy from an orphanage Amur (Blagoveshchensk) and took him to the city of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region on the Adriatic coast.”

Monday at 11:30 they should begin questioning him.

 

The tragedy in Italy: adoptive father strangled five year old Russian[google-translated, KP 7/20/14]

“The alleged killing of a five-year-old Russian boy by his adoptive Italian father has been met in Russia with mourning and calls for adoption reform, feeding an ongoing movement to keep orphans out of foreign hands.

Maxim Maravalle, last name Kichigin by birth, died on the night of July 17 in Pescara, Italy, according to a statement on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. Several Russian media sources have reported that he was strangled.

“The crime was committed by the boy’s adopted father — Massimo Maravalle, who was arrested by the police. Pescara’s Prosecutor General has opened a criminal case against [him],” the statement said, citing information from the Italian government.

Maravalle is thought to have suffered from a psychological illness, a fact that, according to the Italian authorities, was never disclosed during the adoption process, which was concluded in 2012.

The Investigative Committee for the Amur region, where Maxim was born and adopted, has already opened a criminal case and is investigating members of the local government for “negligence in processing the [adoption] documents,” as well as looking into the boy’s living conditions in Italy, according to a statement published Sunday on the committee’s website.

In a sign of the troubling direction the affair could take, the committee is also investigating the legality of the boy being sent abroad rather than into the care of Russian citizens or relatives.

Yelena Mizulina, a State Duma deputy and conservative moral crusader who was a driving force behind Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, has meanwhile called for a probe into Italy’s procedures for selecting adoptive parents.

“It is completely obvious that we need a thorough analysis of the entire procedure which exists in Italy for selecting candidates for adoption,” Mizulina said, RIA Novosti reported.

The incident is all the more troubling given the fact that Italy is the leading destination for Russian children adopted by foreigners, she added.

Italy gained this status only last year after citizens of the U.S., who had been No. 1 for adoptions, were barred from taking in Russian children under the Dima Yakovlev Law. The law, which went into force on Jan. 1, 2013, is named after a two-year-old Russian boy who died in 2008 after being left unattended in a vehicle by his adoptive U.S. father.

While fueled by public outrage over widespread reports that Russian orphans had been mistreated in the U.S., the bill was widely viewed as a calculated political response to the Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law that blacklisted Russian officials implicated in humans rights violations and the death of the lawyer after whom it was named.

A total of 560 Russian children — half of all the children adopted by foreigners — went to Italy in 2013, according to a report published earlier this month by Russia’s Supreme Court.

At the same time, the report found that the total number of Russian children adopted abroad has nearly halved since the introduction of the law, falling 48 percent last year compared to 2012.

Hearing the news of Maxim Maravalle’s death, Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Saturday published an account of the events on Twitter and called on Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to personally handle the investigation.

In response to Astakhov’s posts, several outraged Twitter users called for the adoption of Russian children by foreigners to be banned altogether.

“We need to ban adoptions of our children by people from other countries,” one user wrote in Russian.

Another wrote the same, adding: “How long can this go on for?””

Death of Adopted Russian Boy in Italy Sparks Outrage[Moscow Times 7/20/14 by Delphine d’Amora]

” He was adopted in May 2012 and was on a register in the consular department of Russian Embassy in Italy’s capital, Rome. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated earlier that adoptive father of the boy Massimo Maravalle had killed the adopted Russian child.

“The decision to open a criminal case was taken after the procedural inquiry which had obtained information about possible negligence, which state officials in Amur region, local self-government bodies committed in processing adoption documents for a boy in 2012,” he said.

Relatives of the Russian boy and Russian citizens were denied adoption of the child.

“Detectives will also give a legal assessment to fulfilment of officials’ duties to process and check documents over the denial to child’s adoption by his relatives and rejected addresses of Russian citizens who wanted to adopt the boy as well as their duties to control the conditions of life and upbringing of the child in the foster family,” the committee’s spokesman said.

Detectives should find all details of the murder within the criminal case.

“Russian Investigative Committee protects rights and legitimate interests of children who are Russian citizens no matter where they are staying and intends to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation of the processing of the documents over child’s adoption to foreign adoptive parents,” Markin added.

Italy’s Pescara city prosecutor’s office has earlier opened a criminal case against adoptive father of the boy Massimo Maravalle. According to the preliminary theory, a mental disorder could have made the defendant kill the adopted child.”

[ITAR Tass 7/20/14]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update: “Autopsy of the deceased five-year-old Russian boy who was adopted in Italy has revealed that he was strangled, local media reports said.

On Friday, police of the Italian city of Pescara detained 47-year-old Italian citizen Massimo Maravalle, who is suspected of having strangled his adoptive son with a pillow while he was sleeping.

An investigation into the boy’s death is ongoing.

The boy was adopted by an Italian couple in 2012. Italian media reported that the adoptive father was on medication for his psychological problems. However, when the adoption was processed, this fact was omitted.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case concerning negligence committed in the course of processing adoption documents for the boy.

Spokesman Vladimir Markin said the investigation will assess actions of officials who denied custody to the boy’s relatives and processed requests of Russian families who wanted to adopt the kid.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and Russian Embassy in Rome are monitoring the situation.”

Autopsy confirms Russian Adoptee Strangled in Italy[RIA Novosti 7/21/14]

“Maxim Maravalle, whose birth name was Kichigin, died in Pescara last Thursday after allegedly being murdered by his adoptive father, Massimo Maravelle.

The alleged killing has sparked outrage in Russian media and among politicians. It comes just a year after Italy was promoted as a favoured destination for Russian orphans because the country doesn’t allow gay marriage, The Moscow Times reported.

Russian children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has called for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to personally oversee the investigation. Astakhov, a former celebrity lawyer, led the charge in 2013 for Russia to ban adoptions of its children by US families.

That ban was ostensibly related to the death of Dima Yakovlev, who died in 2008 after being left in a car by his adoptive American father. However, it was widely interpreted as revenge for US sanctions against officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Since the US ban, Italy has become the main destination for adopted Russian children.

Russian officials have only cited child welfare considerations in their statements about the Maravelle case. However, it comes as the EU, of which Italy holds the rotating presidency, prepares to vote on Tuesday on tougher sanctions against Russia in the wake of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 last week.

The Investigative Committee for the Amur region, where Maxim was born, said on its website that it is probing members of the local government for “negligence in processing the [adoption] documents” and is also looking into the child’s living conditions. In what the Moscow Times said was “a sign of the troubling direction the affair could take”, the committee is also looking at whether it was legal to send the boy abroad rather than to relatives in Russia.

The boy was reportedly strangled by Maravelle, who suffered from mental health problems that were not disclosed at the time he and his wife, Patrizia Silvestri, underwent the adoption process in 2012, the local Italian news website GE Local Pescara, reported.

Maravelle has been in custody since Friday.

A few days before the boy’s death Maravelle, who had been receiving treatment since 2006, had been due to meet his psychiatrist, Alessandro Rossi, in a bid to have his medication reduced because he “felt much better”, GE Local Pescara, reported.

Rossi told police that he was left out of the adoption process and was not asked to provide a health certificate on Maravelle’s condition.

A total of 560 Russian children were adopted by families in Italy in 2013, according to a report by Russia’s Supreme Court.”

Fury in Russia over adopted boy’s murder[The Local 7/21/14