For the past year, the 45-year-old native of Chelyabinsk, Natalya Chernogubova, has been unable to leave China due to allegations of smuggling. For several years, a woman has been supplying snake skin products from Indonesia to Russia. The supply route passed through China, and there were no complaints against the entrepreneur.
According to Chernogubova, on July 1, 2018, she again flew from Bali to Guangzhou to ship goods to customers in Russia with the help of a logistics company. Natalya brought 77 snake skins and items weighing about 80 kg with her.
“Usually I sent the consignments by courier or by mail, but this time I had to accompany the shipment to China personally,” Natalia tells RT. “At the airport, Chinese customs officers approached me and said that the cargo was detained and I need to provide a number of documents for it.”
The woman says that she flew to Bali for documents without any problems, and then returned. However, the customs officers did not return the cargo, saying that it was suspected of smuggling.
“I was asked several questions: where did I buy the skin, where do I take it, how long have I been engaged in transporting leather, and then they took the documents and said that I had to pay a deposit of 10 thousand yuan (about 90 thousand rubles. - RT ), otherwise I would be arrested - recalls Chernogubova. “So I got stuck in China without documents and without the opportunity to leave the country.”
Investigation progress
As Natalya explains, Chinese customs officials conducted an investigation into her case for several months. The examination estimated the cost of the goods imported by Natalia at $ 45 thousand. According to the woman, she bought leather in Bali for a much smaller amount, and even at Chinese prices the goods are cheaper.
Natalia says she still does not understand why she was detained. China is on the list of countries that have endorsed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). According to the Russian woman, all her shipments were agreed with CITES, however, the Chinese side does not take this into account.
“Perhaps I did not take into account some legal nuances,” Natalya says. - Usually, the end customer pays for the customs clearance. And here I got confused and didn’t do everything right. Moreover, two lawyers told me completely different things. The first claimed that python skin trading was generally prohibited. But then it is not clear why she is being traded at every step. The second says that you can sell skins, but you need to issue quotas. ”
According to the Russian woman, the prosecutor twice returned the case to the customs officers for further investigation. In June of this year, the case was sent to court. If the woman's guilt is proved, she faces up to three years in prison.
Separated from children
“If they put me in prison, I’m even afraid to imagine what could happen to my children,” laments Chernogubova, who single-handedly raises her 10-year-old daughter Arina and 14-year-old son Artyom.
- © Photo from the personal archive
At the time of Natalya’s detention, the children were in Bali, where they still remain.
“The children live with local friends who agreed to look after them until I figure out my problems. And these proceedings have been dragging on for a year, and it is not known what will end. Recently, Arina was hit by a moped there and she went to the hospital, and I almost went crazy here because I could not help her. ”
Chernogubova added that in a year she managed to see her children only once: the Russian consulate organized their short visit to China.
Natalia herself is barely making ends meet - her business has closed, all the savings have already been spent on the services of lawyers. “I actually live on the donations of acquaintances,” Chernogubova sighs.
This year, Natalia's mother died. According to the woman, her mother had an oncological disease, which worsened amid worries about her daughter and grandchildren. “Mom died on January 13, but they didn’t let me out of China for the funeral. And mom is my last closest person. I have no brothers or sisters, even my ex-husband has not let me know for seven years now. I was left all alone. I am desperate, ”says Natalya.
Meanwhile, Chernogubova herself now also had health problems. The woman is worried about severe back pain due to the resulting intervertebral hernia. Now, according to her, she even walks with great difficulty.
“I felt much worse,” Natalya complains. - I can’t walk at all, my leg is disconnected, my head is spinning. Apparently, I’ll have to go to the hospital. I delay it as I can. ”
“We provide all possible assistance”
RT asked the Russian Consulate General in China for comment. The consulate attache, Grigory Kolyshkin, assured that the situation with the Russian woman is kept "under very tight control."
“According to the Chinese authorities, this was not the first violation of Natalia related to the transport of goods not permitted in the state,” said Kolyshkin. “They rated the product so highly, judging by everything, according to internal prices.”
According to the attache, the consulate is constantly in contact with Natalya and her lawyer. In particular, thanks to the efforts of the Russian representative office, the woman managed to see her children - they were helped with obtaining visas. The consulate also constantly sends official diplomatic notes to the Chinese police, customs, court and prosecutor's office.
“We have active correspondence with the Chinese side. For our part, we ask the court to take a more humane approach, taking into account the fact that she has children, she has health problems and she had documents for the goods, ”said Kolyshkin. “Yes, the goods are illegal in any case on the territory of China, but the availability of documents shows that she acquired them legally.”
In addition, the Consulate General is accompanying the court hearings in the case of Natalia.
“It is difficult to say something specific on the terms of the court and its decision,” said Kolyshkin. - In this regard, the Chinese side has its own rules. But we are very closely monitoring the situation and provide Natalia with any help we can. We hope that the court will make a soft decision. ”
RT will continue to monitor the situation.