Prosecutors are investigating the possibility that medics at a maternity clinic in south Russia were involved in the sale of a newborn baby for 40,000 rubles ($1,300), acting head of the Pyatigorsk regional investigative department Oleg Roslyakov said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The alleged deal is believed to have taken place in early October when a woman bought a baby boy from a local resident at a market in Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region.
Prosecutors believe the medics of the clinic acted as mediators to organize the sale of the newborn.
"The employees of the medical institution could be mediators of the deal because the sales of children are not being advertised on the streets," Roslyakov said.
The woman who wanted to buy the baby is already the mother of two children she adopted earlier. She pleaded guilty and has been released on bail, Roslyakov told journalists.
The suspected mother who attempted to sell the baby is currently undergoing DNA tests to determine if she is the actual mother. She could be deprived of her parental rights of the child.
The baby boy is being taken care of by social services and his health is not under any danger. "Tests have been carried out that found that the baby was not physically injured," Roslyakov said.
PYATIGORSK, December 8 (RIA Novosti)