Belozere, Russia
Dozens of schoolgirls in the Russian republic of Mordovia have been kidnapped and raped to force them into marriage, Radio Liberty reported this week. Local reporter Marat Salimov said that such “bride theft,” common in the Muslim province for decades, has increased recently as a way for men to inherit property owned by a girl’s family. After a 13-year-old was kidnapped from her desk at school this spring, fearful parents began keeping their daughters at home—and now the Belozere high school has no female students. Outraged, the mufti of Mordovia ordered local imams to perform no marriages without the bride’s consent.
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