Officers of the criminal investigation department, the Prosecutor’s Office and the investigative department of the Ukrainian National Police branch for the Kharkiv region detained a teacher at a boarding school for orphans who intended to sell a 13-year-old girl from the orphanage for $10,000.
“The teacher has been informed that she is suspected of human trafficking or the implementation of another illegal agreement with regard to a child – Part 3 of Article 149 of Ukraine’s Penal Code […]. This offense carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison,” the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said.
The teacher has been detained and a restraining measure is being chosen for her. Priority investigative measures are being taken.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook account that the woman had been preparing the ‘deal’ for almost a year. The police were tipped off about her intentions four months ago. An investigation was immediately launched and the child was secretly placed under protection.
The detained woman is a 52-year-old teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature at the specialized orphanage for troubled teenagers in the Kharkiv region.
“She tried to sell her pupil for $10,000. She was choosing a buyer and was haggling [over the price] […]. She suggested bringing the girl to the designated place and put her in the buyer’s car. When the buyer asked about the girl’s health, hinting that he meant the removal of organs, she brought the girl’s photo and her medical records for 1,000 hryvnias,” Avakov said.
The teacher was detained red-handed when she took the girl outside of the boarding school’s premises, took her to the ‘buyers’ and received the money.
“I, as a human being and a father, think that this monster should be jailed for life for such crimes. But the count under which she is prosecuted carries a prison sentence from three to 12 years. I, as interior minister, expect the police and all of the appropriate agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into this incident and the conditions in which the children live and study at this boarding school in general,” he said.
