10:00, 9 May 2009

In Georgia, 27 doctors arrested on charge of trafficking in children

On May 8, employees of Georgian MIA detained a group of 27 physicians and employees of gynaecologic clinics, who are accused of trafficking in newborns.

According to the MIA, the criminal network was divided into two groups. The first one was headed by Nora Dzhvareliya, born in 1936, already convicted for a similar crime. The second one was headed by Teimuraz Lortkipanidze, chief physician of the maternity hospital of the city of Tskhaltubo.

The detention of doctors was conducted simultaneously in different maternity hospitals of Georgia - in Zestafoni, Khoni, Samtrediya, Kutaisi and Tbilisi, as reported by the "GHN" Agency.

Among the detainees is the chief physician of the Tskhaltubo maternity hospital, who recruited, with the help of his subordinates, the lying-in women, who were ready to refuse from their newborns for large sums of money. According to the MIA of Georgia such lying-in women were taken to maternity hospitals without registration, as reported by the "Interfax".