"Test result - 0% paternity": in St. Petersburg, a man challenges a conviction for non-payment of alimony

Daniil Sidorenko (surname and first name changed. -

) met his ex-wife Olga (name changed - 

) on a dating site in 2011.

After several dates in real life, they began to live together.

“We really wanted children, but somehow it didn't work out.

On November 9, 2012, we were supposed to fly together to rest in Egypt, but the day before I was admitted to the hospital, and I told Olga to fly with her friend, ”Sidorenko recalls. 

A month after traveling to Egypt, Olga told him that she was pregnant.

In February 2013, they legalized their relationship and began building a house.

However, the boy, says Sidorenko, was born "darker than he expected."

“My wife and I are also a little dark-skinned, so I thought that the dark skin simply“ doubled ”.

We even joked that it was a surprise from Egypt, ”Sidorenko sighs. 

However, according to him, he did not have any suspicions.

“If I knew that things would turn out like this, I would collect checks.

And I trusted so much and wanted to live my whole life with this woman, ”explains Sidorenko. 

Divorce and alimony

However, the family idyll soon faded away.

According to Sidorenko, Olga wanted him to spend more time with his family, but she had to work a lot - she needed money to build a house.

As a result, after a series of quarrels in November 2015, Daniel left the family, but, he says, he did not refuse his son - he sent money and visited.

“I rented a room, worked unofficially, because I have health problems and then I applied for a disability.

We decided that after the divorce we would conclude an amicable agreement on the payment of alimony and agreed that every month I would transfer 10 thousand rubles.

I didn’t have my own card, and I translated through acquaintances and friends, ”Sidorenko says.

According to the man, he regularly paid child support, but in March 2018 his car burned down and difficulties began with work.

He could not pay alimony regularly.

As a result, the debt accumulated, and the ex-wife went to court.

On October 12, 2020, the magistrate of the Judicial District No. 192 of the city of St. Petersburg found him guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 1 of Art.

5.35.1 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (non-payment of funds for the maintenance of children).

Sidorenko assures that for a number of reasons he could not pay off the alimony debt, after which his wife demanded that he be brought to criminal responsibility.

“... I did not draw the proper conclusions for myself, did not pay alimony, in the period from 10.24.2020 to 07.28.2021, being a person subjected to administrative punishment, he failed to pay funds repeatedly without good reason in violation of a court decision, which deliberately created a debt for alimony payments in the amount of 104,653 rubles 17 kopecks, ”the court ruling says (available to RT).

According to Sidorenko, when a criminal case was opened against him for non-payment of alimony, close relatives, who had previously only hinted that their son was not too much like him, began to speak openly so that he did a genetic examination.

“My mother and sister advised me to do a genetic test.

As a result, secretly from my wife, we went to a private center and made an examination.

Two weeks of anxious waiting and the result is 0% paternity, ”Sidorenko tells RT.

The man brought the result of the examination to the next court session, but the judge did not attach it to the case file and advised him to talk to his ex-wife and make peace before a verdict was passed.

“I had 105 thousand saved up, I offered her to put money in a cell and sign an agreement - we are doing a new DNA test.

If I am a father, she takes the money, if not me, then I take it, and she has no complaints against me.

She said that she did not need my money and that it was a matter of principle to punish me, ”Sidorenko tells RT. 

On November 2, 2021, the Frunzensky District Court of St. Petersburg found the man guilty under Part 1 of Art.

157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (non-payment of funds for the maintenance of children) and sentenced to correctional labor for a period of six months with a monthly deduction of 5% of wages in state revenue.

“Someone is resting and relaxing in Egypt, and then someone is punished,” says Sidorenko, who turned to professional lawyers after the court's decision.

- We have filed an appeal, but this conviction will now ruin the life of both my nephew and future children.

After all, they won't be able to work in many places now. "  

Challenge paternity

Sidorenko's lawyer Alisa Smirnova tells RT that, most likely, it will not be possible to challenge the man's conviction, since at the time of the verdict the fact of paternity had not yet been contested in court.  

“He admitted his guilt, and the case was considered in a special order - that is, without a judicial investigation.

In this case, the verdict cannot be appealed due to the discrepancy between the conclusions of the court and the actual circumstances of the case; the verdict can only be challenged in terms of the punishment, explains RT Smirnova.

- In addition, he did not go to court on time with a claim to challenge paternity.

Then the consideration of the criminal case could have been terminated and the conviction would not have taken place. "

Family lawyer Yulia Chesalina believes that in this case the court's verdict is absolutely legal. 

“The court had neither the right nor the opportunity to consider the presence or absence of the fact of paternity in the framework of the criminal case, because the subject of the dispute was different.

But it was possible to suspend the hearings, since there were such grounds, and in another process to challenge paternity, "explains RT Chesalina. 

According to Alisa Smirnova, a claim to challenge paternity has already been filed - the court will begin to consider it on December 22.

At the same time, the ex-wife also filed a lawsuit to deprive Sidorenko of parental rights.

“An absurd situation.

We will ask for a stay of the case.

Since if the court recognizes that he is not the father of the child, then the lawsuit for deprivation of rights will no longer make sense, ”the lawyer tells RT.

According to her, despite the test results, Daniel does not refuse to communicate with the child, as he is very attached to him.

However, after receiving a claim challenging paternity, the mother forbade the child to communicate with the father and his family and changed his phone number.

RT contacted the man's ex-wife, but the woman refused to comment on the situation.