But despite strict prohibitions, this phenomenon de facto existed and continues to exist. Therefore, it must be legalized – such an official proposal was recently made by Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Justice Marat Kaipov. He believes that the existing ban on polygamy in the country's current legislation is nothing but a manifestation of gender discrimination and a curtailment of democracy.
The fact is that in Kyrgyzstan, bigamy is a criminal offense. Anyone who, in accordance with Islamic laws, wishes to bring a second wife into the home (and the Quran, as is known, permits up to four lawful “second halves”) faces, at least officially, up to two years in prison. In Russia, it is simpler – polygamists are not punished, but Article 14 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation states that a person who is already married cannot enter into a marriage. True, the strictness of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code exists only on paper – according to Minister of Justice Kaipov, over the past ten years only... ten people have been prosecuted for polygamy. At the same time, last year nearly 40,000 Kyrgyz women gave birth to children out of wedlock.
“Kyrgyz women are not against polygamy, and since they themselves want it and marry those who already have one or two wives, it is no longer a crime,” Kaipov stated at hearings dedicated to the legalization of polygamy. “Since polygamy became a crime, our men have lost responsibility and masculine dignity,” the chief Kyrgyz legal expert is convinced. Children born from second and third wives have no legal rights, and fathers cannot support their spouses or even buy them beautiful women's phones, clothes. “The purpose of punishment is correction and reeducation of the criminal,” CA-NEWS quotes the head of Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Justice. “And if we sentenced this person to three years, reeducated him and sent him home, and he again lives with all his wives, where is the correction? Then we would have to keep him in prison for life. And that is impossible.”
Marat Kaipov is not the first time he has acted as an apologist for polygamy – in March, the ministry he heads submitted a corresponding bill to the Jogorku Kenesh – the Kyrgyz parliament. “Kyrgyzstan is a democratic and rule-of-law state in which any infringement of rights, including on grounds of sex, is inadmissible. According to the law, men are prosecuted for polygamy, but we do not prosecute women for polyandry,” the minister argued. However, the deputies “killed” the bill, and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, speaking at celebrations dedicated to the holiday of March 8, called officials who raise the issue of polygamy idlers. “I think they have nothing better to do,” the head of the Kyrgyz state gave a sharp rebuke.
The issue of legalizing polygamy was also raised in Russia – of course, not at such a high official level. For obvious reasons, spiritual leaders of Russian Muslims – muftis Talgat Tadzhuddin and Ravil Gainutdin – have repeatedly spoken out in support of legalization. In early 2006, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov came out in support of polygamy, motivating his proposal by saying that “in Chechnya it is necessary because we have war, and according to statistics we have more women than men.” Earlier, the idea that residents of Muslim regions should be allowed to take several wives was lobbied by former Ingush President Ruslan Aushev. But, as is known, a much greater resonance was received by a similar proposal made by the leader of the LDPR, Vice Speaker of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and he called for not limiting it to Muslim republics alone. However, the majority of Russians have a negative attitude towards polygamy – according to a poll conducted in February two years ago by the Public Opinion Foundation, 62% of respondents were against it.