Yekaterinburg court sentences six for legalizing 54 migrants through sham marriages

The organized group included a state clinic doctor and a migration department inspector; foreign nationals paid up to 180,000 rubles for the services.

The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced six members of an organized group who helped foreign nationals obtain legal status in Russia by circumventing the law, the joint press service of the Sverdlovsk Region courts said. The verdict has not yet entered into force.

According to the court, from September 2021 to December 2023, the group legalized at least 54 foreign nationals who had no legal grounds to remain in the country. They were offered sham marriages with Russian citizens, fictitious registration at their place of residence or stay, and medical certificates confirming the absence of dangerous diseases. The services cost up to 180,000 rubles per person.

View of central Yekaterinburg (archive)

A doctor and a police officer took part in the scheme

The scheme was devised by a Tajik citizen who holds a residence permit in Russia. Three intermediaries arranged sham marriages, a state clinic doctor issued medical documents without conducting examinations, and an inspector from the police migration department arranged fictitious registration and migration registration.

The doctor was charged with 17 counts of falsifying official documents, 17 abuses of office and 11 episodes of petty bribery. The police officer was charged with nine abuses of office, six fictitious registrations and three fictitious migration registrations.

Police officer receives 8.5-year prison sentence

The scheme's organizer was sentenced to four years and seven months in prison and fined 450,000 rubles. The intermediaries received prison terms of four to six years, taking their prior convictions into account, and were each fined 350,000 rubles.

The former police officer was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison and fined 850,000 rubles. She was stripped of her police captain's rank and barred from working in law enforcement for three years. The doctor was sentenced to five years in prison, with the sentence deferred until her child turns 14, fined 400,000 rubles and barred from working in healthcare for three years. She was exempted from punishment for the petty bribery counts because the statute of limitations had expired. The money received as bribes, as well as phones and computers, were confiscated.

Yekaterinburg court sentences six for legalizing 54 migrants through sham marriages

The organized group included a state clinic doctor and a migration department inspector; foreign nationals paid up to 180,000 rubles for the services.