ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A woman has been jailed for seven years for snatching a newborn baby from a maternity hospital in the Kazakh city of Almaty last year, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
The Almaty district court today found local woman Anna Savchina, 25, guilty of kidnapping the baby boy from Almaty's Maternity House No. 1 on November 20.
Baby Ratmir, who was born on November 17, disappeared shortly before he and his mother -- Svetlana Shashkova -- were to leave the hospital. Shashkova was asleep when her son was taken.
Almaty police found Ratmir in Savchina's apartment three days after he was snatched and returned him to his mother.
Investigators say that Savchina faked a pregnancy, forged documents stating she had given birth to a son, and then snatched the baby from the hospital.
The court today also formally placed Savchina's 3-year-old daughter in the care of Savchina's sister.
Read more in Russian here
The Almaty district court today found local woman Anna Savchina, 25, guilty of kidnapping the baby boy from Almaty's Maternity House No. 1 on November 20.
Baby Ratmir, who was born on November 17, disappeared shortly before he and his mother -- Svetlana Shashkova -- were to leave the hospital. Shashkova was asleep when her son was taken.
Almaty police found Ratmir in Savchina's apartment three days after he was snatched and returned him to his mother.
Investigators say that Savchina faked a pregnancy, forged documents stating she had given birth to a son, and then snatched the baby from the hospital.
The court today also formally placed Savchina's 3-year-old daughter in the care of Savchina's sister.
Read more in Russian here
