Confirmation of the experience: Kaliningrad doctors convicted of the death of a baby

The Moscow Regional Court sentenced neonatologist Elina Sushkevich and former chief physician of Kaliningrad Maternity Hospital No. 4 Elena Belaya in the case of the murder of a newborn. Sushkevich was sentenced to 9 years in a general regime penal colony, while Belaya was sentenced to 9.5 years. According to investigators, in 2018, doctors deliberately injected a premature baby with a lethal dose of magnesium sulfate in order to simulate his death in the womb and prevent the deterioration of maternity hospital statistics. In September 2022, the Moscow Regional Court had already sentenced Belaya and Sushkevich to similar terms, but the Presidium of the Supreme Court overturned the decision and sent the case for reconsideration. The doctors' lawyers stated that they intend to appeal the current verdict in order to prove the innocence of their clients. Read more about the high—profile case in the Izvestia article.

What were Kaliningrad doctors convicted for?

On August 11, the Moscow Regional Court announced the verdict of Kaliningrad doctors Elena Belaya and Elina Sushkevich in the case of the death of a baby: 9,5 and 9 years in a general regime colony, respectively.

This is the second verdict of the Moscow Regional Court in this case: the first was handed down in September 2022, when the terms of imprisonment were similar. But subsequently, the Presidium of the Supreme Court sent the case for a new hearing.

According to investigators, on November 5, 2018, a citizen of Uzbekistan, Zarimkhon Akhmedova, was admitted to maternity hospital No. 4 in Kaliningrad. At an extremely early stage of pregnancy, she gave birth to a boy weighing about 700 grams. Since the baby was born deeply premature, the neonatology intensive care unit of the regional perinatal center was called to the hospital. Anaesthetist and intensive care specialist Elina Sushkevich was among those who arrived.

The investigation found Elena Belaya, who was acting as the chief physician of the maternity hospital at that time, to be the organizer of the crime, and Elina Sushkevich to be the perpetrator. Belaya, investigators believe, instructed Sushkevich to inject the infant with a lethal dose of magnesium sulfate in order to simulate his death in the womb. As a result, the child died. Investigators believe that the high levels of magnesium in the infant's body during the autopsy could make forensic experts believe in this version.

According to the investigation, the motive for the crime was that Belaya was waiting for reassignment to the post of chief physician at that time. And the deterioration of infant mortality rates could affect these prospects.

The case file contains an audio recording of Elena Belaya's conversation with her subordinates on November 6, 2018, that is, the morning after the birth of the baby. On the recording, the former chief physician chastises subordinates for providing intensive care to a child in serious condition and demands to rewrite the child's medical history.

Larisa Guseva, a representative of the mother of the deceased child, told Izvestia that the doctors' accusation was based on the results of a forensic examination, which showed a high concentration of magnesium sulfate in the baby's internal organs.

— When the investigation began to deal with this, the doctors of the maternity hospital began to testify against Belaya and Sushkevich, — said the lawyer. — Their testimony, combined with the expert examination, formed the basis of the charges.

In their testimony, the staff of maternity hospital No. 4 said that after the death of the child, Elena Belaya ordered to rewrite the birth history — to indicate that the child was stillborn.

About childbirth and people: Kaliningrad doctors were repeatedly asked for a three-year limitation period

Employees of the maternity hospital Elina Sushkevich and Elena Belaya in the Moscow City Court again refused to admit guilt in the murder of the baby

What did Belaya and Sushkevich say?

At the last hearing before the verdict, the victim, Zarimkhon Akhmedova, told the court that for her it was a long-awaited child, whom she and her husband had been waiting for very much.

"It hurt me for so many years, I couldn't get pregnant for a long time, and I lost the baby because of you," she said.

Belaya and Sushkevich pleaded not guilty. According to them, the baby died a natural death because he was born deeply premature. In her last statement, Belaya stated that the victim had not been examined after the first miscarriage and had not been observed during pregnancy.

— At the reception, she was offered hospitalization, and she refused it, — said the former chief of the maternity hospital.

According to Belaya, at the morning meeting, her subordinates provoked her into a conflict and recorded it on audio.

—Your Honor, the case is fabricated, it's a contract case," Belaya said in her last word.

Kamil Babasov, Sushkevich's lawyer, stated during the arguments of the parties that "there is no motive to take a person's life, and there are no statistics."

— We have not seen any syringe and no evidence, we do not agree with the verdict of the jury, — said the lawyer.

In turn, Sushkevich stated that she did not inject magnesia into the child, but on the contrary, she tried to save him.

— Experts (who conducted the examination of the case. — Ed.), it was unknown how the child was helped, she said. — For me, Akhmedova is not a victim, for me she is a mother who lost her child. I did everything I could to save the child.

In 2020, the first jury acquitted Belaya and Sushkevich, but the prosecutor's office protested this decision and the case went to a new round. In July 2025, the second jury found Belaya and Sushkevich guilty of intentionally causing the death of a child. The jury also ruled that the defendants did not deserve leniency.

The court banned Belaya and Sushkevich from practicing medicine for three years and jointly collected 171 thousand rubles to pay off court costs. In addition, the court fully satisfied the victim's civil claim in the amount of 2 million rubles — 1 million from each defendant.

What the lawyers said

The defendants' lawyers said they considered the verdict illegal and would appeal it.

"There are chances for the verdict to be overturned," Vyacheslav Zhukovsky, Sushkevich's lawyer, told Izvestia. — We have already walked the path to the Presidium of the Supreme Court, and we intend to walk it again. The trial that preceded the guilty verdict was unequal and non-adversarial. We are sure that if the jury had had all the information, the verdict would have been different.

According to the lawyers' calculations, the court counted 5 years and 10 months of the sentence imposed by the court as time served. This is the period of time that Belaya and Sushkevich spent under house arrest and then in custody.

— They have already served almost the entire term, and after two months we formally have the opportunity to raise the issue of parole. But we are not satisfied with the possibility of parole. We want to prove that Elina Sushkevich did not kill the baby. She was saving the baby, but for objective reasons she couldn't do it," Vyacheslav Zhukovsky said.

If the court has already deducted 5 years and 10 months from the appointed term, then Elina Sushkevich will have to serve 3 years and two months, and Elena Belaya will have to serve three years and seven months, said Irina Gritsenko, a medical lawyer at the Legal Policy bar association. At the same time, according to her, the defendants will not be able to appeal the court's decision and at the same time apply for parole, despite the fact that the deadline for parole has already come.

— The application for parole is not considered by the court that passed the sentence, but by the one that is located at the place of serving the sentence, — said the lawyer. — In any case, it is useless to apply for parole without a positive characterization from the colony, because it will be refused. And colonies do not give such characteristics, earlier than in six months, they need to observe a person first.

The full cycle of a new appeal may take from one and a half to three years, Egor Panin, a lawyer at the Avex Yust law firm, told Izvestia.

"It is important to take into account the key point here: after the appeal, the verdict will enter into force, and the FSIN will have the unconditional legal right to send convicts to serve their sentences in an appropriate correctional institution," the lawyer reminded. — If the sentence expires before all stages of the appeal are completed, the convicts will be released and will await the end of the procedure at large.

Most likely, the punishment will be served until all the mechanisms are exhausted. But this will not deprive the convicts of the opportunity to bring the entire appeal procedure to an end, Egor Panin summed up.