Sexual violence survivor’s journey to justice | Al Jazeera Close Up

After experiencing sexual violence, Vasilisa Komarova succeeds in getting justice through determination.
In 2015, Vasilisa Komarova, 39, set off on a lifelong dream: motorcycling off-road across the Americas. Komarova, started in Cuba, then headed for Chile and began to make her way up the Americas to Alaska. It was a dream inspired by growing up behind the Iron Curtain. “I am a child of the Soviet Union, a place where one wasn’t allowed to dream of exploring the world,” Komarova explains.
In June 2017 and while camping beside a lagoon in Santa Rosa del Yacuma, Bolivia, Komarova was sexually assaulted by three locals. Though she was aware of the prevalence of sexual violence in Bolivia, Komarova had been assured by a local family that the lagoon was safe and they encouraged her to camp there.
After the attack, Komarova spent a year in Bolivia fighting for justice. During that time, she experienced firsthand institutional sexism and the corruption and failings of a legal system that does little to protect survivors of sexual assault nor carry out justice for them.
Thanks to Komarova’s persistence, in June 2018 her perpetrators were sentenced to a combined 42 years in jail, a feat that was nothing short of miraculous. “It’s almost without precedent that people go to trial and are convicted of a sexual offense,” says Daniel Robison, honorary consular agent of the British Embassy in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia, who helped Komarova navigate the legal process. “People kept telling her, ’Just forget about it, just go away, nothing will ever come of it and she refused to take no for an answer.”
After winning justice, Komarova continued on her journey. Today, she is in Nicaragua, and hopes to make it to Alaska by 2021. She continues to fight for survivors of sexual violence worldwide. “My dream is to make this world safer,” says Komarova, “and to live in a world without sexual violence, where one woman as myself can travel and not be afraid to be on her own.”

A film by Kelley Manley & Alex Witkowicz
Field Producer: José A. Rios Román
Film Editor: Ala Alhussan
Producer: Ala Alhussan
Executive Producer: Andrew Phillips

Special thanks to José A. Rios Román, Milkhaus, Daniel Robison, Ligia Robison, Antón Malvar, Jaime Teran, Green Hearts Project, the Ministry of Justice and Institutional Transparency of Bolivia, Environmental Support Program, Universidad Privada de Bolivia (La Paz) and the women who shared their stories with us.

Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/aljazeera/760570754391359/
Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aj-close-up/

#AlJazeeraEnglish #CloseUp #JourneyToJustice


About This Source - Al Jazeera English

The video item below is a piece of English language content from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is a Qatari state-funded broadcaster based in Doha, Qatar, owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network.

Recent from Al Jazeera English:

Can international justice stop israel? | inside story 1

Can international justice stop Israel? | Inside Story

A prolonged dry spell across the Indian-administered Kashmir

US march for life: Abortion rights likely issue in Nov election

In This Story: Bolivia

Bolivia is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. The constitutional capital is Sucre, while the seat of government and executive capital is La Paz.

Its geography varies from the peaks of the Andes in the West, to the Eastern Lowlands, situated within the Amazon Basin.

The country’s population, estimated at 11 million, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Mestizos, Europeans, Asians and Africans. Spanish is the official and predominant language, although 36 indigenous languages also have official status, of which the most commonly spoken are Guarani, Aymara and Quechua languages.

2 Recent Items: Bolivia

Bolivia’s coca leaf chewing day: country pushes for global coca leaf decriminalization | DW News

COP28 exclusive with Bolivian VP David Choquehuanca Céspedes

In This Story: Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It occupies a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile covers an area of 756,096 square kilometres (291,930 sq mi) and has a population of 17.5 million as of 2017. The capital and largest city is Santiago and the national language is Spanish.

Chile borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica under the Chilean Antarctic Territory.

2 Recent Items: Chile

Can international justice stop Israel? | Inside Story

Born in Chile, Raised in Rome | A Chat with Pizarro | Serie A 2023/24

In This Story: Cuba

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba is a country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos.

Since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.

2 Recent Items: Cuba

Cuba’s economy adjustment program: Price hike for fuel, gas and water to take place

Cuban tourism downturn: New hotels being built despite visitor numbers

In This Story: Nicaragua

Nicaragua, set between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is a Central American nation known for its dramatic terrain of lakes, volcanoes and beaches. Vast Lake Managua and the iconic stratovolcano Momotombo sit north of the capital Managua. To its south is Granada, noted for its Spanish colonial architecture and an archipelago of navigable islets rich in tropical bird life. 

2 Recent Items: Nicaragua

Nicaraguan official praises China’s economic growth in 2023

Nicaraguan ambassador to China reads New Year poem ‘Sonatina’

In This Story: Soviet Union

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, it was a one-party state (until 1990) governed by the Communist Party, with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian SFSR.

The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government that had earlier replaced the monarchy of the Russian Empire.

On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the remaining twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states. The Russian Federation (formerly the Russian SFSR) assumed the Soviet Union’s rights and obligations and is recognized as its continued legal personality.

2 Recent Items: Soviet Union

Why The World Is Rushing Back To The Moon

Why Henry Kissinger Was a Polarizing Force in US Foreign Policy

Leave a Comment

We don't require your email address, or your name, for anyone to leave a comment. If you do add an email address, you may be notified if there are replies to your comment - we won't use it for any other purpose. Please make respectful comments, which add value, and avoid personal attacks on others. Links are not allowed in comments - 99% of spam comments, attempt to post links. Please describe where people may find additional information - for example "visit the UN website" or "search Google for..." rather than posting a link. Comments failing to adhere to these guidelines will not be published.