The court closed the trial of Lyudmila Borzilo.

The trial of Lyudmila Borzilo for disclosing her adoption secret has begun in court, and it is being held behind closed doors. She is participating in the trial via videoconference from a psychiatric hospital, where she was re-admitted at the request of investigators. The family, which has many children, is unable to afford a lawyer and is concerned about Lyudmila's impending birth.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," Lyudmila Borzilo, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation from the Rostov region, complained that security forces have unfoundedly opened a criminal case against her, and officials are attempting to place her children in an orphanage because of her civic activism. In March, the activist was placed under house arrest and then forcibly committed to a psychiatric clinic in Rostov-on-Don. During the court hearing on her complaint, Borzilo suffered a miscarriage. On April 15, the court softened her pretrial detention. As a result, the guardianship authorities withdrew the lawsuit to limit parental rights. At the investigator's request, the court ordered that Lyudmila Borzilo, an activist from the Rostov region, be remanded to a psychiatric clinic after she was being kept at a private clinic and placed on the wanted list.

On November 28, the Orlovsky District Court of the Rostov Region began the trial of local activist and pregnant mother of many children, Lyudmila Borzilo. Since 2016, she has been trying to prove that her son was abducted at birth and declared stillborn, Borzilo's family members told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today.

During the investigation into the abduction of Borzilo's child, the woman inadvertently cited her relatives as an example of how they also adopted and raised their adopted son from infancy. The investigation immediately shifted from Borzilo's case to the case against Borzilo, initiating a criminal case against her under Article 155 of the Russian Criminal Code for divulging an adoption secret. Borzilo expressed remorse that this example "slipped out of her mouth," and in her explanation, she stated that she "divulged an adoption secret, which, firstly, was never a secret, and secondly, the child in question was already an adult at the time of disclosure," they said.

Borzilo's lawyer, Alexander Matrosov, who represented her interests during the disclosure investigation, noted that Article 155 of the Russian Criminal Code does not provide for imprisonment even if a person can be convicted. "The most severe punishment could be a fine or correctional labor, but Lyudmila was subject to various sanctions, such as house arrest, before the trial, and then was placed in a psychiatric hospital, placed on the wanted list, and is currently again in a closed ward of a psychiatric hospital," the lawyer told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Lyudmila's husband, Sergey Borzilo, said she was undergoing treatment in a private clinic after suffering a miscarriage in court and a new pregnancy, when the investigator placed her on the federal wanted list. "My wife had no intention of hiding. Everyone knew where she was and why. Her official due date is January 15, 2026. In September, before the elections, five months pregnant, she returned home from the clinic to her children, who are in my care along with my eldest daughter. "She wanted to participate in the elections, but they didn't let her," Sergey told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The National Guard and the police arrived, arrested my mother, saying she was on the federal wanted list, and took the pregnant woman away in an unknown direction. We were all very worried. The children were crying. They miss their mother. The whole family is living in stress due to the actions of the security forces and the authorities. They don't help our large family; they're trying to destroy us. And we don't see that the words spoken "from above" about family values correspond to the actions in our specific case," Lyudmila's daughter, Tatyana, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The mother of many children was again placed in a psychiatric hospital. A closed trial began today, where Tatyana represents her mother's interests along with a court-appointed lawyer.

Tatiana said her mother was not brought to court and is testifying via videoconference from a closed ward of a psychiatric clinic where she is not receiving treatment. "She's feeling poorly, and she was diagnosed, as far as I know, with schizophrenia, despite the fact that all the documents and an independent examination were presented, proving she's healthy. The courts reject all of this and only consider what the security forces and psychiatrists provide. We're talking about punitive psychiatry," says Lyudmila's daughter.

"This story is an example of the destruction of family and family values, a disregard for children, for the interests of the family, and for a person's right to defend their rights and interests. Lyudmila was declared a 'danger to society' and is being held in a psychiatric hospital only because she is legally seeking an examination to confirm that her child is truly dead. This examination is simple. As part of the investigation, investigators exhumed our child, who allegedly died in 2016. It's clear that only bones remained of the corpse. They took these bones and were supposed to conduct a DNA test on them. Was our child buried or "A stranger. And that's it! But what are the investigators doing? They still haven't conducted the ordered examination. They're shifting the case to my wife and initiating a criminal case against her. They're locking Lyudmila in a mental hospital and declaring her a danger to society. And where does her danger lie? In her active civic position? In her attempts to find the truth: is her child alive or dead?" says Sergei Borzilo.

He also emphasized that the Borzilo family is currently left without the support of his wife's comrades in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation because they don't have the funds to pay the lawyers who previously defended Lyudmila.

"We're making do with protection from the state, which in this case is interested in protecting the state from my wife," he stated.

The daughter and father said they are concerned about the health of not only Lyudmila, who has been illegally held in a closed ward of the psychiatric hospital for over a month, but also the baby girl, who is due in January.

A representative of the Oryol District Court told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the trial has been postponed until December 10. "The trial is being held behind closed doors. Witnesses are expected to be questioned," he added.

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