Parents acquitted in surrogate mum case

(ANSA) - Brescia, June 30 - 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.