FAMILY VIOLENCE BECOMING INCREASINGLY PRESSING PROBLEM IN RUSSIA








MOSCOW, March 5. /RIA Novosti correspondent Galina Baryshnikova/. Family violence is getting an increasingly pressing problem in Russia. According to the information provided by the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation, 80 percent of all crimes in 1999 were committed in families, annually 12000 women die as a result of beatings inflicted by their husbands.


	This was said Monday at a press conference, "Family Violence and Women's Health". Husbands' violence against their wives takes various forms: from insults and beatings to sexual violence. Nevertheless, as a rule and sometimes for decades, victims of family tyrants have been concealing their personal dramas from publicity being governed by the well-know proverb "not to wash one's dirty linen in public". This results in deep depressions, psychic and physical traumas. At the same time, as was indicated by the participants to the press conference, frequently both doctors and law enforcement authorities stand aloof of this problem.