Chapter Thirteen

A Loving Appeal from the USA

 

    At the end of October, after having endured BBAS and Amrex the Towells wrote the Ministry of Education in both Moscow and Amur a densely worded, single spaced 3 page letter, translated by Irina.

    They explained how much they loved Oleg and Elena, how badly Tatyana and Amrex had botched the appeal and that Amrex was working illegally in Russia by using Beacon House’s accreditation. 

    Irina O’Rear went over and above in the work she did for the Towells on the appeal. She moved mountains in both Moscow and Blagoveshchensk and got results. IT WAS THROUGH IRINA AND NOT AMREX OR BBAS that the Towells were able to obtain important information!

    By Sept. 21, Irina had filed the paperwork in Moscow and Amur for the appeals process to get underway.

    The Amur Regional Court mailed the Towells two letters, one informing them of the decision for their new day in court, and the other stating they would get a new court date in November.

    Both letters were signed by Judge E.A. Burov, the judge that had sat for Brian in April. The first letter  was dated Oct. 8, 2001. 

    (He was also, oddly enough, the same judge who had officiated at the adoption of Victor Matthey, the New Jersey boy whose parents were charged with murder after he died in late 2001).

    This letter from Judge Burov stated that the Amur Regional Court had received the Towell’s appeal on Oct. 3.  

    In keeping with Article 105 of the Civil Legal Code of the Russian Federation persons who missed the term for appeal envisaged by law on the excuse, acknowledged by the Court to be reasonable, the missed term can be restored. The petition for the restoration of the missed term is submitted to the Court on which it was incumbent to accomplish the legal action and is considered at the court session. Under such circumstances, the Court finds it necessary to fix a legal session on the said application…of Brian…and Alysha Towell requesting to restore the missed term of appeal concerning the decree of the Amur Regional Court dated April 23, 2001 for the case for adoption for…Oleg…and Elena…

    The legal session is fixed for November 8, 2001 at 9:00 a.m. in the town of Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region at the following address…The Decision is not liable to appeal or protest.

    The second letter dated Oct. 12, 2001, from Judge Burov was the formal letter informing the Towells of their new court date for Oleg and Elena’s adoption.  Included was a six-page copy of the original court decree in Russian (condensed to four pages when translated into English) a two-page copy of the Court Decision in Russian and one page of this Court Decision translated into English for the Towells.  

    The original court decree was translated by a “TZD. Tatyana per chance?

    All was not as clear-cut as it seemed. It never was. As you know, nothing is ever written or engraved in stone during the Russian adoption process.

Back Next