Former Head of Child Adoption Agency Charged with Selling Orphanage Children

The former head of the Child Adoption Agency (ZAG) is accused of abusing official powers in the field of foreign adoptions. The prosecutor has initiated public criminal prosecution, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Armenia.

It was revealed that A.S., from September 26, 2013, to April 29, 2017, while holding the position of head of the Civil Status Registration Agency within the Ministry of Justice of Armenia, willfully failed to fulfill his official duties out of personal interest, causing significant harm to the legal interests of the state.

“In particular, he failed to supervise the activities of foreign organizations operating in the territory of the Republic of Armenia in violation of the 'Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption,' although he was aware of their conduct. As a result, organizations operating in this field continued activities in Armenia without the required permissions and procedures,” the statement said.

Additionally, A.S., having close ties with A.G., who was engaged in the organizational work of foreign adoptions (defendant in a criminal case regarding adoptions), intentionally did not take steps to fulfill the obligations set out in Article 8 of the convention (preventing financial or other benefits in connection with adoptions and the prevention of brokerage activities in adoptions).

Consequently, A.G. not only received unjustified financial benefits but also received separate compensation for the adoption process of each child, which contradicts the convention. It was also found that A.G. received an amount clearly exceeding the expenses required by Armenian law for the adoption of each child.

“In addition to the above, the documents submitted by foreigners lacked the mandatory documentation required for registering a child for adoption specified by the Armenian government, indicating that the person wishing to adopt a child is not ill with any diseases listed in the list approved by the government’s 2005 decision. A.S., as a member of the inter-agency working group created for the purpose of reviewing these documents, proposed to the head of the central body (Minister of Justice of Armenia) to provide a positive conclusion regarding the opportunity to adopt a child of Armenian citizenship to foreigners, ignoring the absence of the aforementioned mandatory documentation,” the statement continued.

A.S.’s actions resulted in serious consequences. There was an uninterrupted sale of two or more children from orphanages operating in Armenia by an individual engaged in organizational work related to foreign adoptions for the purpose of handing over the children to a custodian.

A public criminal prosecution has been initiated against A.S. under part 2 of article 308 of the former Criminal Code (abuse of official powers resulting in serious consequences) (10 incidents). Within the same criminal case, in May 2023, criminal prosecution was initiated against D.G., who attempted to sell two children for 20,000 euros and 5,000 US dollars for the purpose of handing them over to a custodian, under the charges of attempting to sell two or more children and legalizing particularly large sums of illegally obtained income.