Armenian officials charged with selling children to foreigners Investigative data

The Armenian Investigative Committee has completed the preliminary investigation into the case of negligence, abuse of power and money laundering by employees of state organisations during the adoption of children - citizens of Armenia by foreign citizens from 2015 through 2018.

The charges were brought against 11 people. The investigative bodies revealed that a resident of Yerevan, who for many years was a representative of a number of Italian companies in Armenia, created a criminal gang, which also included representatives of the Armenian various state organisations. This gang was engaged in the sale of children to foreign citizens, while representatives of state agencies facilitated the illegal adoption, the Armenian media reports with reference to the Investigative Committee, according to Caliber.Az.

The members of the criminal gang were identified and the role of each of them was determined, the mechanism of illegal adoption of children is fully disclosed. Proceeding from evidence, the suspect has received money from employees of foreign companies, as well as from people who directly applied for adoption since November 2005. There is also such information that these adoption organisations operating in different countries of Europe and Asia published information on "adoption costs" on their website, and the prices for children from Armenia ranged from €15,000 to €20,000.

The investigative bodies revealed that foreigners who wanted to adopt children from Armenia filled out personal data indicating the preferred characteristics of a child, made payments, and the suspect, together with her accomplices, coordinated the entire process according to a predetermined scenario. She accompanied foreigners in Armenia, organised their meetings with children, and also resolved all issues with paperwork, including participation in court hearings. The suspect received €15,000-25,000 through bank transfers or personally - both from organisations and from adoptive parents. The amount received over 15 years totalled more than €1,200,000.

It was also revealed that the gang created by this person included several civil servants. In particular, the head of the International Obligations Department of the Civil Registration Office of the Armenian Justice Ministry freely provided information about children to be adopted. In turn, the director of the "Children's Home of Yerevan" provided information about the children, and removed obstacles in the children's adoption.

Moreover, the head of the Department for the Protection of the Rights of the Family, Women and Children of the Yerevan Municipality Office created artificial obstacles for Armenian citizens wishing to adopt children, providing them with false information about the absence of healthy children in the adoption list to facilitate their adoption by foreign citizens.

The investigative bodies also revealed that the director, deputy director and doctor of the Republican Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology CJSC facilitated the criminal scheme. They organised the preterm birth of pregnant women who went to the maternity hospital for various personal and family reasons, as a result of which children were born with complications. Neutralising the possibility of adoption of these children by Armenian citizens, they provided this opportunity to foreigners. In some cases, they hampered the parents to take care of the child by falsely reporting severe health problems.

Moreover, the head of the children's affairs section of the Department for Family, Women's and Children's Affairs of the Armenian Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, being in close relations with this person, abused his official powers. He ordered the director of the Gyumri "Children's House" to ban representatives of public organisations that took the initiative to return children to their biological families from visiting the Orphanage.

Proceeding from the evidence, the representatives of the above-mentioned organisations were charged under paragraph 2 of part 2 of Article 168, paragraph 2 of part 2 of Article 168 and paragraph 1 of part 3 of Article 190 of the Armenian Criminal Code.