Andrey Cherkasov: Woman involved in selling Russian children to Italy released

Former female crane operator from the town of Volzhsky, who organized the illegal business in the Volgograd region selling Russian children to Italy, was released from the custody on bail of the sum of 10 thousand dollars and was given written orders not to leave town. The woman’s name is Nadezhda Fratti; she was released with the help of an Italian delegation, which arrived in Volzhsky especially for that purpose. The foreign delegation consisted of deputies from the Italian parliament, the new parents of some of the sold children, and other people. The prosecutor of the Volgograd region listened to the pleadings from the Italians and released Fratti.

Fratti’s criminal business was to render agency services connected with adoption of the Russian kids by the Italian families. Fratti received a commission for each adopted child in the sum of $2.5 thousand. Fratti managed to save a considerable amount of money over several years of her criminal activity, approximately $1.5 million. She acquired two respectable apartments, one of them was surely bought in Italy and the other one in Volzhsky. There is no need to mention the great deal of money spent on bribery to both of the officials of the Volgograd regional administration and in other structures of the executive, legislative power, and so on. There are over a dozen judges who made illegal decisions in Fratti’s favour. She paid their expensive trips to Italy and rendered a wide range of different services. Everything seemed to be “quite” until the investigation uncovered that some of the kids moved to Italy only to find their death there. There is reason to believe that some of kids were used for paedophilia and for “spare parts” to give their internal organs away.

The prosecutor of the region affirms that he knows the fate of each separate child who was sent to Italy, but he failed to prove this with documents. He said that the Italian deputies who arrived in Volzhsky knew everything on the score. It is surprising how such a respectable legal expert believed those Italians' words, for there were no documents that would prove the well-being of the Russian children in Italy.

Fratti did not work alone. She represented the international association for adoption in Volgograd Arkobaleno, presided over by a Mrs. Rechota. The activity of this firm was noticed not only in Volgograd but also in other cities of Russia. It was a very profitable business with well-established links. On several occasions the decisions regarding an adoption were made in the adoptive parents’ absence, which was absolutely unthinkable for any civilized country of the world.

Fratti is not likely to go back to jail. Her case will most likely be split into several pieces, and the proceedings will go separately from each other. The Russian investigation can not determine the fate of each child who is now living in Italy. Russia’s Office of the Prosecutor General could not find the money to send its investigators abroad so that they could look into the matter directly. The Italian delegation officially prohibits foreigners to do any kind of probe on Italy’s territory.

Fratti has refused to cooperate with the investigation. She was silent during the interrogations not to allow the investigators to compare her voice with the records of Fratti’s very frank conversations with a lot of the Volgograd officials. Can you imagine that any Russian citizen could be released under these conditions?

Andrey Cherkasov PRAVDA.Ru Volgograd