A Bergamo court on Thursday
acquitted a couple from the Lombardy town of Albino of charges
related to a child they conceived thanks to surrogate
motherhood, on the grounds that there was no case to answer.
The couple had their child in Kiev, Ukraine, thanks to a
surrogate mother who was impregnated using the husband's sperm
and a donor egg.
Surrogacy is banned in Italy.
Their baby was born in 2013, and when they came back to
Italy they were charged with altering a birth certificate - a
felony punishable with 5-15 years in prison.
As a result the Albino town registry refused to transcribe
the baby's Ukrainian birth certificate, which names the Italian
couple as the mother and father.
Prosecutors argued the birth certificate contains a
falsehood, because the baby's mother should be named as the
Ukrainian birth mother.
The prosecution later asked permission to change the charge
to one of surrogate motherhood, which could be pursuable as a
crime committed by Italians abroad.
However the court acquitted the parents of all charges.
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