Texas dad held in a Russian prison amid custody dispute
A Texas man has been found guilty in a Russian courtroom of abusing his two sons between 2014 and 2018, a crime that also was investigated in Texas and found by state authorities to have no merit.
Woodlands resident David Barnes, 66, has been detained in Russia since January 2022, when he went there to gain legal clearance to see his sons. Barnes’ exwife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, had previously fled the U.S. and went to Russia with both children.
After a delayed trial, a Russian court found Barnes guilty and he was sentenced to 21 years in a high-security Russian penal colony, according to a report by ABC News.
“Frankly, I’m horrified,” Gleb Glinka, Barnes’ attorney, told ABC News reporters. “There was almost no evidence that the court could base that verdict on.”
In an email shared with Hearst Newspapers, Glinka told Barnes’ family that he would be filing for a preliminary appeal.
Barnes’ trip to Russia and subsequent arrest came after a custody battle played out in a Montgomery County courtroom, where during their divorce proceedings Koptyaeva accused Barnes of sexually abusing his then 7-year-old and 4-year-old sons — abuse claims that Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Montgomery County Sheriff ’s Office and Texas Child Protective Services found no evidence to support.
“They were extremely outrageous allegations … that just had no credibility to them, whatsoever,” Kelly Blackburn of the district attorney’s office said in a previous report.
Koptyaeva at the time also filed a petition to gain full custody of the children.
Barnes suspected she would leave the country and filed an emergency motion requiring her lawyer to hold on to the children’s passports in 2018, William Harrison, Barnes’ lawyer for his custody case, said in a previous report.
On March 27, 2019, a Montgomery County court judge ruled that Koptyaeva and Barnes would have joint custody of their sons.
Shortly after, Koptyaeva fled the U.S. with the children to Turkey and then
Moscow, according to a previous report.
Interpol, an international police organization, had issued yellow notices for the two children. A yellow notice is a global alert for a missing person.
In December 2019, a Montgomery County judge granted Barnes full custody of his children, while Koptyaeva was criminally charged with interference of child custody. Koptyaeva remains wanted in the U.S., court records show.
“I didn’t steal anyone,” Koptyaeva told ABC News reporters outside the Russian courthouse Tuesday. “I was just protecting my kids.”
According to an email sent to ABC News, Koptyaeva said the children were abused by Barnes, alleging they experienced “suffering and pain,” which is why she left the U.S. for their protection. Barnes denied these allegations.
Appearing in a cell in the courtroom, Barnes told ABC News reporters that he feels justice will triumph.
While the trial in Russia is centered around allegations from Texas, officials from the state had no involvement in the prosecution — some Montgomery County officials saying that Russian authorities did not reach out to them.
Barnes is one of several Americans detained in Russia to make headlines in 2022.
WNBA basketball star and Houston native Brittney Griner, who was arrested at Russia’s Sheremetyevo International Airport in February for having vape cartridges and cannabis oil in her luggage, returned to the U.S. in December — joining former Marine Trevor Reed, who returned to the U.S. in April after being detained in 2019.
Former Marine Paul Whelan remains in a Russian prison after being accused of spying and imprisoned in 2018. He was sentenced to 16 years in 2020.
Barnes’ family in Alabama hopes he could be included in a prisoner exchange similar to Reed and Griner.