Woman convicted for selling baby for 5,000 euros: “A child is not a commodity”

GHENT -

The Ghent court convicted a Bulgarian woman on Monday for inhumane treatment of her child. She sold her baby for 5,000 euros to a couple from Ghent. The prospective parents were prosecuted by the public prosecutor's office, but were acquitted because they were misled.

“The court mainly wants to send a social signal with the ruling. Not only towards the Bulgarian woman, but also towards anyone who would want to profit from the birth of a biological child by trading it for profit," the verdict said.

The Ghent court sentenced the woman in absentia on Monday to ten months' suspended prison sentence. The woman sold her child to a couple for 5,000 euros. The court ruled that she treated her child as a commodity and should be punished for that.

The facts date from 2020. The Turkish couple from Ghent had wanted to have children for a long time, but due to a medical problem with the woman, they were unable to become pregnant. Through Bulgarian acquaintances in Belgium they came into contact with the woman, who was six months pregnant at the time.

The man initially thought that he could only adopt the child if he was the biological father. He therefore suddenly confessed that he had committed adultery and that the Bulgarian woman was pregnant by him. A lie that later came true. However, the couple soon decided to raise the child together.

Concealed surrogacy

The Bulgarian woman was willing to give up her child to “give it a better future”. In Bulgaria the woman already had eight children and they lived in dire circumstances. The local child protection service had therefore intervened several times.

No concrete agreements were made, except that the intended parents living in Belgium would bear all costs. When the man wanted to recognize the child as his own in Belgium, the Ghent population office sensed trouble and an investigation was started into hidden surrogacy.

The investigation showed that the woman had already requested various sums of money before the birth, ostensibly to arrange her health insurance in Bulgaria. She later turned out to have put that money in her own pocket. In total about 5,000 euros.

Adoption started

The prospective parents were also prosecuted by the public prosecutor for human trafficking, degrading treatment and the man also for forgery. They risked 12 and 6 months in prison, but were acquitted on Monday.

The court ruled that they were tricked by the Bulgarian woman into paying money. “Above all, they cherished love for the child, so that their actions were not driven by the desire to purchase it as a commodity and keep it with them,” the verdict said.

The child has also been staying with the intended parents in Ghent since birth and "it is raised there in a warm family", the court said in the judgment. Although under the supervision of the juvenile court, the prospective parents have now also started an adoption procedure.