Babies at a reasonable price

The regional specialized inter-district court for minors is considering a high-profile criminal case. In the dock are a mother of many children, a nurse from a perinatal center and two married couples.

The main trial of the case began with the speech of the prosecutor Saule ZHILKIBAEVA. She reported that, according to the investigation, the mother of many children, together with a nurse from one of the perinatal centers in Karaganda, organized the sale of newborn babies to childless married couples.

According to the prosecutor, the criminal tandem made its first purchase and sale transaction in 2022. In January, they found a childless couple who dreamed of having a child and sold them a newborn baby for three million tenge.

- Immediately after being discharged from the maternity hospital, the biological mother and her childless spouses went to the Civil Registry Office, where they applied to establish the child's paternity and issue a birth certificate. In the "Father" column, the mother indicated the husband of the woman to whom she sold the baby. After the document was issued, she handed the child over to the buyers. And they, in turn, transferred a certain amount of money to the account of the nurse through whom the transaction was executed. Later, the rest was transferred in cash. Based on the birth certificate, the buyer's spouse filed for adoption of the child through the court, - the prosecutor noted.

The second deal was made a year and a half later, in August 2023. Having become pregnant again, the woman with many children found another childless couple through the same nurse. The future parents, dreaming of a baby, paid for a room in the maternity hospital for the woman in labor and participated in the birth. After that, everything again went according to the established scenario - money in exchange for the baby. However, this time the mother did not have time to adopt the child through the court. The investigative authorities intervened in the case.

The defendants were charged under several counts of the criminal article “trafficking in minors committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.”

The accused themselves do not agree with the article they are charged with. They claim that there was no buying and selling of the babies. The biological mother allegedly gave the newborns to childless couples free of charge, and the nurse merely brought them together for a good cause.

Both couples dreamed of having children for 15 years. But all attempts to have offspring were in vain. Then they began looking for babies in orphanages, and attended schools for adoptive parents. But even here they were disappointed. Babies and healthy children from orphanages were taken by other people.

- This woman (the children's biological mother. - A.D.) gave us happiness, I am very grateful to her for giving birth to my daughter. She was in a difficult situation, she was single, had many children. Realizing that she could not afford another baby, she looked for people who could provide her child with a decent life. She did not ask for money, only to love and cherish the child, which is what we did until this horror began. For a year and a half now, we have been accused of trafficking newborns, my daughter was taken from the family for 8.5 months to influence us. We barely managed to get her back home. She was only two years old then. Because of the long separation, she withdrew, stopped talking, even turned gray, - one of the defendants told the court.

The defendants also consider the investigation's arguments about money transfers to be untenable. Despite the fact that the prosecutor's office stated that two children were sold for 6 million tenge, the indictment includes checks for transfers to the accounts of the nurse, her relative, and the biological mother of the children for much smaller amounts.

- In the future, we will prove that these transfers were not for the purchase of a child. There are no three million tenge there. The investigation pulled out several checks that are available for four years, - the woman says.

Despite not admitting guilt in the purchase and sale of newborns, one of the couples expressed a desire to make a deal with the prosecutor. And this implies at least a partial admission of guilt.

- We took this step so that our child would not be taken away from us again. I would not wish on anyone to go through what we went through during the entire investigation. We have only one wish -

so that our daughter could live with us and everything would end well. We are still working on our daughter's rehabilitation after she was taken away. I would like the adoption law to be revised. Then the number of orphanages would decrease, as would cases where babies are left in trash cans and toilets, - the defendant added.

Judge Dulat Burabayev announced a recess for the defendants to conclude a procedural agreement with the prosecutor's office. The next hearing on this case will be held in March.

Aida DASTAN, photo by Vladimir ZAIKIN, Karaganda