Trafficking in babies: organizer and members of criminal organization to be tried in Kyiv
Kyiv • UNN
The organizer and two members of the criminal organization will stand trial for recruiting women to provide surrogate motherhood for single foreigners. The scheme violated the law and exploited vulnerable women.
The organizer and two members of a criminal organization that recruited women to participate in surrogacy programs for single foreigners will be brought to trial. The indictment has been sent to the court, reports Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, reports UNN.
The investigation established that the criminal organization consisted of 12 people, including 2 co-organizers and 10 members. Both organizers are heads of medical clinics. One of them is a former law enforcement officer and a current lawyer. Other members of the scheme are employees of the mentioned clinics, managers, administrators, translators and a lawyer.
Participants in the scheme sought out women from Kharkiv region who had financial problems and deceived them into becoming surrogate mothers, allegedly for foreign families who could not have children without the help of doctors. Sometimes couples came to meet with the women, for whom they were supposedly giving birth to children.
Clinics received from foreigners from 50 to 70 thousand euros for the full range of services for the birth of a child. 2] Of these, surrogate mothers were paid up to 12 thousand euros. Since the clinics were not allowed to provide services to men who did not have a wife, the mother was chosen from a catalog of donors based on her photo.
It is reported that after a surrogate mother gives birth to a child, she is told that she must be officially registered as the child's mother, although from the beginning, women were convinced that they were giving birth to children for a married couple. Then the surrogate mother has to give permission to take the child abroad.
If the women did not agree to such conditions, they were threatened with not being paid the full amount for their services as surrogate mothers.
It is noted that the clinics under investigation carried out assisted reproductive technology procedures for people who did not knowingly meet the requirements of the Ministry of Health's orders in this area. In other words, only married couples who have certain health problems and therefore cannot become parents on their own can apply for surrogate mother services. All this must be confirmed by medical documents and examination results.
The foreign customers, after receiving the newborns, crossed the border and took the children out of Ukraine.
Currently, the indictment against one of the organizers (director of the Kyiv clinic) and two members of the criminal organization (acting director of the Kharkiv clinic and a translator) has been sent to the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv for consideration on the merits.
The actions of the organizer are qualified as the creation of a criminal organization, the management of such an organization, and the recruitment of a person for the purpose of exploitation, using deception and the vulnerable state of the victim, committed repeatedly, committed by a criminal organization (Article 255(1), Article 28(4), Article 149(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The actions of the other two members of the criminal organization are qualified as participation in a criminal organization and recruitment of a person for the purpose of exploitation, using deception and the vulnerable state of the victim, committed repeatedly by a criminal organization (under Part 2 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
At the same time, the Obolon and Podilskyi District Courts of Kyiv delivered guilty verdicts against three members of the criminal group (two managers and a lawyer), whose indictments were sent to court in November 2013.
The court approved the plea agreements and sentenced all three participants to 5 years of imprisonment with a probationary period of 3 years.
Also, the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv is considering criminal proceedings against 2 more participants-interpreters, whose actions were also qualified as participation in a criminal organization and recruitment of a person for the purpose of exploitation, using deception and vulnerable state of the victim, committed repeatedly, committed by a criminal organization (part 2 of Article 255, part 4 of Article 28, part 3 of Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
In addition, the prosecutor's office separated into a separate criminal proceeding the materials of the pre-trial investigation against 4 suspects (co-organizer, two administrators, and a translator), who were put on the international wanted list .
All 4 persons were served notices of suspicion in absentia and custody was chosen as a measure of restraint in absentia. As of today, the criminal proceedings have been suspended in connection with the international search for the suspects.
In addition, the prosecutor's office took measures to seize property from all suspects, including seizure of houses, cars, apartments, land plots and seizure of the corporate rights of the clinics.
At the same time, the prosecutor's office initiated an audit of the clinics' compliance with accreditation and licensing conditions.
The organizers of the illegal scheme face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.
