NOT even fame and fortune as one of Russia’s leading pop stars could save Valeria from her husband’s fists.

For ten years she endured his beatings, threats and rages, assuming, like so many abused women, that it was somehow her fault. But now, divorced and happily remarried, she has broken a taboo by speaking out about her experiences as part of a campaign to get the Kremlin to clamp down on rampant domestic violence.

“I was quiet about it for ten years because had I opened my mouth, it would have been much worse,” Valeria said.

On average one woman is killed every hour in Russia by a partner, former partner or relative, according to a report released by Amnesty International yesterday. In Britain the figure is two per week. The report estimates that 70 per cent of married women in Russia have been subjected to violence by their husband.

Wife-beating appears to have become more prevalent since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Many Russians, including women, blame domestic violence on alcohol, poverty or housing problems rather than the perpetrator, and do not see it as a crime, Amnesty said.

Police, meanwhile, are reluctant to interfere in what they see as a strictly domestic issue.

Amnesty called on the Russian Government to pass a law against domestic violence and establish shelters for its victims. Moscow, with more than 10 million residents, does not have a single shelter for women.

Valeria also called for better legal and social support for abused women, saying her biggest problem had been that her ex-husband, who was also her producer, controlled her finances. “He had the money and power. I couldn’t go to the police as he would just bribe them to say that I should stay with him,” she said.

One of Russia’s hottest stars in the 1990s, Valeria’s career fell apart when she returned to her native village after the divorce in 2001. Slowly, she is picking up the pieces and is back in the charts.

But she regrets the lost years, and urges other victims of domestic abuse to seek help rather than suffer in silence. “If ten years ago there was an organisation I could turn to for help, I would not have stayed silent,” she said.

FAME AND MISFORTUNE

Jane Fonda spoke publicly of her battle with anorexia and bulimia, and is now a spokesperson for those with eating disorders

Tori Amos has sung and spoken about her rape and set up a free rape hotline

Christina Aguilera has spoken and sung about the abuse she and her mother experienced from her father, donating $200,000 to a women’s shelter

Tina Turner dealt with her abusive 20-year relationship to Ike in her autobiography, I, Tina, and the film, What’s Love Got To Do With It

Will Young launched a website for children living with domestic violence