On May 27th, a 15-year-old girl jumped out of the window of the Volnyansk Orphanage for children with learning difficulties. Now the teenager is in the hospital with multiple fractures. She claims being bullied by the teachers and other orphanage residents forced her to take this action.

"First the teacher kneed me in the groin, then led me into a supply room and beat me up while inside the room. And then she dragged me out by the hair and said, "Girls, I give you 10-15 minutes to tear her apart. Do with her whatever you like," the girl told the journalists of the "Urgent News" newspaper.

When the girl realized that if she wouldn’t flee, she'd get killed, she jumped out of the window...

The doctors summoned to the scene gave the girl first aid for the moderately severe injuries she sustained and took her to the regional children's hospital. The same day, the Justice Department of the Volnyansk Region started a criminal investigation into this case, entering it under the article #367 of the Ukraine Criminal Code (criminal negligence in the workplace). The initial investigation is being carried out by the Justice Department of the Volnyansk branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

According to the girl's words, during her short stay in the orphanage (since April this year), she has not been able to find common ground with other fellow residents; she claims to have been bullied. That is why she decided on this way of avoiding an even worse situation and jumped out of the window.

The staff of Zaporozhye Region Justice Department also added that Lyuba shouldn't have been placed in this orphanage to begin with, because she has no mental health problems; therefore, the Justice Department plans to hold the social workers liable as well.

"This child was placed in an environment she is not used to. She was placed there by an organization which had no right to send children to specialized institutions of that kind. As a result, of course, conflicts arose between the child and other children living in that institution," remarked Elena Gerus, assistant to the Attorney General of Zaporozhye Region. "This girl will not return to that orphanage."

At this time, as the public relations department of Zaporozhye Region Justice Department told ReporterUA's journalists, a paper is ready to send to the regional Council, demanding that the principal of Volnyansk Orphanage to be fired.

It is already established that teachers whose responsibilities include protecting children from any kind of bullying and cruelty did not take measures to solve the problems which arose among the teenagers. It is also established that the child was placed in this institution unlawfully. This institution is for children who have mental and psychiatric health problems, and this child has a normal IQ and mental abilities, which is confirmed by an investigation carried out by a child psychology specialist. And, because the girl is classified as a child whose parents had their parental rights taken away, she should have been placed in an institution for that category of children, not in a specialized orphanage. Taking all that into consideration, the region's Justice Department has prepared a brief to be presented to the region's Council, demanding orphanage principal to be fired, and the Regional Department of the Interior is being asked if the head of the local police department should be held liable for not taking action right away on this criminal investigation. Moreover, the Justice Department will decide to which orphanage the girl can be transferred.

In his turn, the principal of the institution, Evgeniy Lakhno, claims that the girl has only herself to blame for what has happened.

"The child was behaving totally inappropriately in her dealings with the other children, all our children have some mental problems, hence their behaviour," noted the principal.

The head of the State Regional Administration Aleksandr Peklushenko has met the girl. He talked about that during today's meeting of the administration.

"I have met with this girl. She looks happy, we talked for a while," noted the head of the State Regional Administration

The girl is currently a patient in the regional children's hospital. Having visited the hospital, Aleksandr Peklushenko reported that the trauma department is overcrowded, because children have more injuries during summertime.

"Their normal capacity is 58 children, and they have nearly 70! You need to raise public awareness," the governor told his assistant, Andrey Zaporozhchenko. "We have to make children aware that the summer vacation period has a higher risk for injuries, and they have to be more careful."

Regarding the accident in the orphanage, Aleksandr Peklushenko emphasized that schools, especially schools with that kind of specialization, absolutely must have a social psychologist on staff.