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17-year-old Chechen woman forced to marry a married man 30 years older

A 17-year-old girl was forced to marry an already married man at least 30 years older than her in the wedding of the millennium. This incident has raised legal and ethical issues in Russia and its republic Chechnya.

Luiza Goilabiyeva

A 17-year-old girl was forced to marry an already married man at least 30 years older than her in "the wedding of the millennium."

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The incident has raised legal and ethical issues in Russia and its republic Chechnya.

Luiza Goilabiyeva, called Kheda, 17, was married on Saturday to Chechen policeman Nazhud Guchigov, who was originally reported to be 57 (although he claims to be 46), is already married, and has children older than his new bride.

Russian investigative paper Novaya Gazeta reported that Goilabiyeva was being forced to marry a local official. He reportedly threatened her parents, demanding that he marry her on the day of her 17th birthday, May 1, and even warned that he would kidnap Goilabiyeva.

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"He is married and has children. She's younger than his children. The Chechen woman is powerless; she can expect help from nowhere," one of Goilabiyeva's girlfriend's posted, according to The Daily Beast "Kheda told him that she has a boyfriend, but it was disregarded. They say that her boyfriend was beaten half to death."Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who attended the wedding ceremony, accused the media of "inaccurately depicting the situation and meddling in the couple's private lives," according to The Moscow Times He then dubbed this " the wedding of the millennium” right up there with Prince William and Kate Middleton's "the wedding of the century."Nobody in the Russian government publically spoke out against this highly publicized wedding. In fact, it was quite the opposite.Regardless of all the ethical and legal issues, this wedding took place with virtually no reaction even from the bride, who kept her head lowered throughout most of the video footage of the wedding.

"All ages must submit to love," Kadyrov said, quoting a line from one of the most famous Russian novels, Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin.

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