Thursday, Mar 28 2024
All Cities
Choose Your City
'A quarter of the world's timber grows within Siberia’s boundaries'
0

Husband turns on porn entrepreneur wife accused of kidnap, blackmail and using fake passports

By 0 and 0 and 0
15 August 2015

0

'She was wanted for terrible crimes. But even worse, my son, whom I never seen, became the hostage to these crimes.' Picture: Kay Kjell Ake Selberg/Komsomolskaya Pravda

It promises to be the most gripping court case of the decade in Novosibirsk. After almost two decades evading police, Suzanna Gubasheva, 42, is now in detention in the city after being extradited from Spain.

With her in costody is her five month old baby Ralph, now the subject of an international tug of love with her Swedish husband who admits he knew nothing of her alleged criminal past, and is shocked at the stunning revelations. 

The starting point was 18 years ago in Novosibirsk. The Interior Ministry stated: 'In December 1997 a group of offenders, among them Suzanna, kidnapped two local businessmen, with whom they were previously acquainted. The kidnapped were raped. Suzanna also took part in this, obviously she took pictures and made a video. It will be clear during the investigation.'

It is alleged that Gubasheva and her accomplices blackmailed the foreign businessmen who handed over 3,000 roubles, $200, a cell phone and a sable hat. They also went to the police who seized the gang - except for ringleader Gubasheva.

She fled to the Black Sea where she bought a fake passport in the name of Helena Spuridou, a woman who by nationality was Greek. With this document Gubasheva went to the Greek embassy to obtain a residence permit and went to Greece.

Novosibirsk police tried to rack her but now admit she was too devious. 'We sent requests to different countries, knowing that she had an international passport - to Germany, Italy, Finland and France, but with no result,' said Alexei Bunkov, senior detective of Interpol in Novosibirsk region. 'Now we realise it was useless: we were looking for Suzanna, and she already had different name.'

Kay and Isabella


Kay and Isabella

'Five years ago, we began to think about children. And four years ago was born our daughter Isabella.' Pictures: Kay Kjell Ake Selberg/Komsomolskaya Pravda

Once in Greece under her new name, she got citizenship before in 2001 moving to Sweden, where she managed to obtain both residency and later Swedish citizenship. In 2006, she met future husband Kay Kjell Ake Selberg.

'We met nine years ago, I helped her to issue citizenship,' he explained to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. 'She then had an Internet business - porn sites, but it did not bother me. She told me that she came from Odessa. I do not know why, but she made a strong impression on me. I did, of course, knew her under the name Helena.'

He continued: 'She said she had fled from Odessa to Greece with false documents, but, also said it was common practice in post-Soviet territories. There was no other way to go.'

He openly admitted: 'I closed my eyes to it. She quit her pornography business, I drew her to my work: my company Q Hus Sverige AB builds and sell houses, as well as buying real estate. Five years ago, we began to think about children. And four years ago was born our daughter Isabella.'

Gubasheva's fatal mistake was inviting her mother Nelly - who Russian police monitored - to visit Sweden. 'Nelly came to us, but I did not know it was her mother-in-law,' said the husband.  'I was told that it was an aunt from Novosibirsk.'

Interpol watched Nelly and was surprised that she went to Helena in Sweden. Bunkov said: 'We asked our Swedish colleagues to send us a photo of this Helena. 

'They sent and we saw a complete similarity with the picture of Gubasheva. But the Swedes said that they cannot give her to us, because she had already received citizenship of their country.'

Suzanna Gubasheva


Suzanna Gubasheva


Suzanna Gubasheva

'I started to send requests to the police, hoping to release her. And when I read the answers, I began to realise that all this time she had fooled me totally.' Pictures: Eric Tagesson/Aftonbladet

Despite this, she was put under surveillance. And she was noticed planning a trip to Italy. She was detained by the Italians but then escaped, evidently jumping from a window. 

Kay confessed: 'Of course, when she was arrested in Italy, I realised that something was wrong. But she convinced me that she is being persecuted because of a forged passport. I believed her every word.'

Before long she arrived back in Sweden with a new fake Czech identity - Maja Kurant, it is alleged. She then took her husband's surname.

'We lived normally again, planning to have another child. As Suzanna was already 41, we decided not to take the risk, I took her to Riga, to the clinic for IVF, and we conceived my future son - Ralph.'

But the Russians were still watching. Bunkov says: 'Latvia refused to give her to us, because according the Latvian legislation the criminal prosecution on Gubasheva's crimes had expired. Then we waited until September 2014 when she flew to Spain.'

Finally, she was detained - already pregnant - in September 2014. 'The extradition process is always slow, not less than one year. Therefore, she gave birth in a Spanish prison and only now was she forwarded to Russia.' Now she is in Novosibirsk, with the child.

For her husband, the developments have shown him a new side to his wife, who remains unconvicted of any offense. Kay said: 'I started to send requests to the police, hoping to release her. And when I read the answers, I began to realise that all this time she had fooled me totally. 

'She was wanted for terrible crimes. But even worse, my son, whom I never seen, became the hostage to these crimes. I'm trying to get him back to his home in Sweden. Biologically she is not his mother: she just bore this child.'

Suzanna's letter

Suzanna wrote a letter to her husband: 'Ralph will be accepted as Russian citizen. Russia will never give you child who is Russian. Do not waste time.' Picture: Komsomolskaya Pravda

He said she was 'a terrible, cruel person'.

'I want one thing: to take my son and put an end to this nightmare. They say he has blond hair and is very similar to his sister Isabella. My daughter and I cannot wait for his arrival in our house.

'But she understands that while she is holding the son, she can get some preferential terms for her expected sentence in a prison colony. That is, she uses the baby as a kind of insurance and shield.'

Earlier she had tried to deny his paternity, but tests proved he was the father. 

A graduate of Novosibirsk State University, she has been called 'the Siberian Jason Bourne'. She will face trial over allegations that she lured two men she knew to a flat where she and five accomplices tied them up, beat and raped them, according to the Russian general prosecutor's office. 

They recorded the sexual activity and used it to blackmail the men, it is claimed. They demanded $21,000 in return for not spreading the video and photos of the rape scenes. 

Tags:

Add your comment

We welcome a healthy debate, but do not accept offensive or abusive comments. Please also read 'Siberian Times' Privacy Policy

Name

Town/Country

Add your comments

The views expressed in the comments above are those of our readers. 'Siberian Times' reserves the right to pre-moderate some comments.

Control code*

Type the code

* obligatory


Features

Business

The Bank of Russia official exchange rates of foreign currencies
EUR99.71USD92.26GBP116.52Other...