The former director of a school for children with special needs in the Astrakhan region has been given a four-year suspended sentence for covering up the brutal abduction and rape of a six-year-old with cerebral palsy.
The incident occurred in 2001 but criminal proceedings were only launched against Valentina Urazaliyeva in 2013, when the victim's adopted mother urged investigators to open a case.
The convicted rapist was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2013.
In April of this year, Urazaliyeva was amnestied, but Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin intervened to have the case against her relaunched, Newsru.com reported.
Investigators found that knowing full well about the rape and subsequent trauma suffered by the victim, Urazaliyeva "took all possible measures to ensure that her subordinates could not inform law enforcement authorities about what happened," according to a statement on the website of the Astrakhan branch of the Investigative Committee.
Following her release from prison, Urazaliyeva will be banned from working with children for a period of two years.
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