Woman found guilty in Russian baby smuggling scandal

A Russian Supreme Court has convicted an Italian woman of bribery and forgery in an adoption scandal involving more than 600 Russian orphans.

Former Russian and now Italian citizen Nadezhda Fratti has been convicted of bribing officials and forging documents to smuggle hundreds of Russian orphans from the city of Volgograd into Italy during the 1990s.

Her accomplices included a doctor and a director from a local baby care centre.

Each child had a price tag depending on whether they were healthy or disabled and she is reported to have received a total of more than $US1.5 million in kickbacks.

Fewer than 100 of the 600 children have been traced and authorities are now investigating reports some infants were turned over to an Italian organ transplant clinic.

Fratti has been sentenced to five years probation.