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The police are looking for the parents of 4-year-old Maria

19 October 2013 / 12:10:10  GRReporter
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The Greek police do not preclude the disclosure to an international channel for the trafficking of children, since two days ago they found a 4-year-old fair-haired, pale-skinned and blue-eyed girl in a Gypsy camp in Farsala, near Larissa. Initially, her fake parents claimed that the child was theirs biologically, but the results of the DNA test which they underwent immediately, showed the opposite. Here's the official statement of the Greek police:

In the subsequent testimony before investigators, both fake parents launched a variety of fake versions. One of these was that the child had been bought for 80 euro from a Bulgarian who wanted to get rid of the kid. According to another version, they met the child's mother, who was Bulgarian, at a supermarket. They felt sorry for her, since she had no money and could not take care of the child and took the kid in order to help her.

This seems to be the version of the family’s lawyers, or at least this became evident from the interview with lawyer Marietta Palavra on Skai TV. According to her, the child's mother was a foreigner with no money and could not take care of her. The gypsies took the girl in order to help her and hoped that one day she would eventually show up and take the kid back.

Since yesterday, the child who was named Maria by the police has been in the care of "The Smile of a Child" organization which is specialized in child trafficking. On Mega TV, experts of "The Smile of a Child" organization said that the girl barely speaks Greek and communication with her is carried out in Romany. The girl is calm and in good health. According to the same experts, traffickers of children choose fair-haired and beautiful kids - just like 4 -year-old Maria. The organization distributed a special poster with a description of the child and appeal to anybody who knows something related to the case to contact either them or the Greek police.

The news of the fair-haired kid in a Gypsy camp has quickly become a leading story in many of the world media. The British Daily Mail emphasized the terrifying resemblance to three-year-old Madeleine of Leicester, who was kidnapped in Portugal in 2007.

Undoubtedly, the discovery of the real parents of fair-haired Maria is the most important task of the police in this case, but it is not the only one. As GRReporter wrote yesterday, the Roma family was able to obtain a fake birth certificate and the case is therefore indicative of the corruption that reigns in many government institutions. In practice, this was also admitted by the municipality in Athens, where Maria’s fake birth certificate was issued.

The official statement of the municipality said that the existing legal procedure does not require a document from the maternity ward where the child was born. It is explained that for the issuance of a birth certificate a declaration by one of the parents and two witnesses who were present at the birth is needed. The municipality is awaiting official information from the Prosecutor’s Office and investigators in order to track down and punish the particular offender who issued the fake birth certificate.

Tags: Fair-haired girl Gypsy camp Greek police child trafficking The Smile of a Child organization fake birth certificate
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