Moscow investigators searched home of parents whose custody rights are under threat following protest

After Moscow prosecutors released a statement saying they intend to take away custody rights from two Moscow parents who brought their toddler to an election protest, the child’s father said his family’s home had been searched the previous night.

“Last night, we were searched on the basis of the video clip the media has been running on repeat all week. People from the Investigative Committee searched us last night under their child endangerment case. We’ve been assigned an appointment at the Investigative Committee — we’re supposed to go there today just to give testimony and clear up the situation,” Dmitry Prokazov told Radio Svoboda.

Prosecutors accused Prokazov and his wife of “[giving] their young child to a third party, which put the boy’s health and life in danger and caused him physical and emotional harm.”

Prokazov responded, “We are absolutely innocent. We didn’t take part in any mass riots at any point, and under no circumstances did we put our baby in danger.”

The father also clarified he had given his child to Sergey Fomin, who is his wife’s cousin, during Moscow’s election protest on July 27. Fomin is currently wanted under a mass rioting case.

Update: Olga and Dmitry Prokazov said investigators opened a child endangerment and neglect case after videos of them and their child first surfaced. Olga Prokazova told Meduza that she and her husband were notified about the case while their home was searched. She also said the case is based on a doctored video and that her child was not harmed during the July 27 protest.

This article has been corrected to indicate that a criminal case was opened following the incident in question, but the Prokazovs have not yet been presented with any charges. We apologize for the error.