Armenian court allows arrest of head of orphanage on charges of illegal adoptions
29.01.2020,
18:17
A local court in Yerevan allowed today the arrest of Liana Karapetyan, the deputy director of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, who is also the director of the Yerevan Children's Home, Arevik Khachatryan, the press secretary of the Prosecutor General’s Office, told Novosti Armenia news agency.
YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. A local court in Yerevan allowed today the arrest of Liana Karapetyan, the deputy director of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, who is also the director of the Yerevan Children's Home, Arevik Khachatryan, the press secretary of the Prosecutor General’s Office, told Novosti Armenia news agency.
Earlier, the first instance court turned down a request of prosecutors to arrest Liana Karapetyan. Instead, she was released from custody on a bail, pending investigation.
Razmik Abrahamyan, the head of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, his deputy Arshak Jerjeryan, Liana Karapetyan, and two other persons were arrested in mid-December last year as part of a criminal investigation launched by the National Security Service earlier in 2019 into illegal adoptions. All were charged to have forced more than a dozen pregnant women to abandon their babies who were later adopted by foreign nationals in 2016-2018, allegedly in return for bribes.
However, district courts in Yerevan ordered all of them released from custody on bails. The move was protested by prosecutors, who appealed against the court decisions.
Earlier, the National Security Service announced the disclosure of a criminal scheme for the adoption of newborns, saying Italian citizens adopted Armenian newborn babies with gross violations of the legislation of the country.
According to the National Security Service, in 2016-2018, employees of some maternity hospitals convinced more than a dozen mothers that their newborn babies were suffering from serious illnesses or were stillborn and having exerted psychological pressure on them, forced them to abandon the babies or agree to their adoption. -0-
Earlier, the first instance court turned down a request of prosecutors to arrest Liana Karapetyan. Instead, she was released from custody on a bail, pending investigation.
Razmik Abrahamyan, the head of the National Institute of Reproductive Health, Perinatology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, his deputy Arshak Jerjeryan, Liana Karapetyan, and two other persons were arrested in mid-December last year as part of a criminal investigation launched by the National Security Service earlier in 2019 into illegal adoptions. All were charged to have forced more than a dozen pregnant women to abandon their babies who were later adopted by foreign nationals in 2016-2018, allegedly in return for bribes.
However, district courts in Yerevan ordered all of them released from custody on bails. The move was protested by prosecutors, who appealed against the court decisions.
Earlier, the National Security Service announced the disclosure of a criminal scheme for the adoption of newborns, saying Italian citizens adopted Armenian newborn babies with gross violations of the legislation of the country.
According to the National Security Service, in 2016-2018, employees of some maternity hospitals convinced more than a dozen mothers that their newborn babies were suffering from serious illnesses or were stillborn and having exerted psychological pressure on them, forced them to abandon the babies or agree to their adoption. -0-
