Six Russian medical workers sentenced to up to 11 years in surrogacy case

A court in Russia’s Primorye region has sentenced six medical workers from a private clinic to between 8½ and 11 years in prison after finding them guilty of trafficking minors as part of an organised group and illegally transferring them abroad.

The Frunzensky District Court in Vladivostok issued the verdict, lawyer Elena Rozova, who represents one of the defendants, said. The defence plans to appeal.

The prosecutor’s office said the case involved surrogacy arrangements commissioned by foreign nationals, with the amount cited in the case materials covering clinic procedures and payments to surrogate mothers.

“According to the investigation, from 2018 to 2020, a group of doctors illegally prepared medical documents containing knowingly false information about infertility among the intended parents and genetic parents. Using assisted reproductive technologies under the guise of infertility treatment, the defendants carried out procedures to cultivate embryos and subsequently give birth to children for the purpose of selling them and subsequently moving them abroad,” the Primorye prosecutor’s office previously said.

According to the indictment, surrogate mothers gave birth to 13 children, for whom a total of 53 million rubles was paid. At the August 27 exchange rate, that amounts to approximately $629,000.

Rozova said proceedings against two other defendants have not yet been heard.

By Tamilla Hasanova