MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee suggests measures be taken to rule out promotion of adolescent suicides in social networks, the Committee’s Chairman, Alexander Bastrykin, said on Wednesday after a series of meetings with citizens.
"This problem does exist. And it cannot be ignored. When I spoke with people, I took a decision that a request be prepared to the country’s leaders and chiefs relevant agencies to work out necessary measure to respond to this problem," he wrote on his Facebook account.
According to Bastrykin, of great danger now are the so-called games of survival organized by the masterminds of the internet groups of death. "Every day, officers of the Russian Investigative Committee’s main scientific investigation directorate expose more and more communities seeking to kill the youth," he stressed.
He said he had spoken with parents of children who committed suicides due to such ‘games.’ "It is woeful and painful to look in the eyes of people whose children opted to take a step to nowhere… I admire their courage, that they have found will enough not merely to go on living but also to help others avert such tragedy," he said.
Thus, in the Ryazan region, relatives of such children set up a public association Saving Children from Cybercrime. "They came to me with useful proposals on amending the Russian Criminal Code’s article on incitement to suicide and other initiatives on what is to be done by government agencies to save children’s lives," Bastrykin noted.
The Investigative Committee plans to hold a meeting on issues of preventing adolescent suicide in March 2017, he added.