Greek police are investigating the identity of four-year-old girl named Maria - dubbed the 'blonde angel' by Greek media - on suspicion that the child may have been abducted from her parents.
A Greek court on Monday charged a Roma couple with abducting a mysterious blonde girl whose discovery by police has prompted global interest, the lawyer for the accused said.
The court in Larissa, central Greece, ordered the 39-year-old man and 40-year-old woman to be placed in pre-trial detention, the lawyer said. They have not been charged with child trafficking.
The blonde-haired, green-eyed girl named Maria was found by police on Wednesday in a camp in the central town of Farsala, and the Roma couple was arrested after DNA testing showed they were not related.
This police photo shows Selini Sali (or Eleftheria Dimolpoulou) and Christos Salis, who have been charged with abducting a four-year-old girl named Maria (centre), who was found living with the Roma couple in central Greece. Photo: Getty Images
The case offered a glimmer of hope to parents of missing children such as British girl Madeleine McCann that they could be found alive.
While police believe the girl was abducted at birth, the couple claims she was given up by her biological mother because she could not raise her.
'We're talking about a woman who could not raise this child and who gave it to the couple in 2009 through a third party shortly after her birth,' a lawyer for the couple, Marietta Palavra, told AFP over the weekend.
'There has been no kidnapping, no robbery, no trafficking,' insisted her colleague Konstantinos Katsavos, who also represents the 40-year-old woman and her 39-year-old husband.
'They did not buy the child,' he said.
Greek charity Smile of the Child, which has been looking after the child, say it had been inundated with more than 8,000 calls about the girl, according to local Skai tv.
'It is mostly parents whose children went missing and who believe there are many similarities [with the girl],' head of the organisation Costas Giannopoulos told daily Ta Nea on Monday.
Police have said they would seek assistance from Interpol to identify the girl in a Europe-wide search.
Greek police are looking to question the biological mother, who does not have Greek citizenship according to the couple's lawyers, to confirm the story.
Police found the blonde-haired, green-eyed girl named Maria in a Roma camp in the central town of Farsala on Wednesday, and the couple was arrested after DNA testing showed they were not related.
While police believe the girl - dubbed the 'blonde angel' by Greek media - was abducted at birth, the couple claims she was given up by her biological mother because she could not raise her.
'We're talking about a woman who could not raise this child and who gave it to the couple in 2009 through a third party shortly after her birth,' a lawyer for the couple, Marietta Palavra, told AFP over the weekend.
'There has been no kidnapping, no robbery, no trafficking,' insisted her colleague Konstantinos Katsavos, who also represents the 40-year-old woman and her 39-year-old husband.
'They did not buy the child,' he said.
According to the couple's lawyers, the biological mother does not have Greek citizenship.
Greek charity Smile of the Child, which has been looking after Maria, say they have been inundated with calls and emails.
'Until Sunday evening, we had received more than 8000 calls and thousands of emails,' charity spokesman Panagiotis Pardalis told AFP.
He said the organisation's site had received more than 200,000 visits and its Facebook page about half a million.
'It is either families [of missing children] or even unrelated persons [who contact us from abroad], sending us photographs and other information. We forward all the information to the police,' he said.
Maria is described as a four-year old, but local media have reported she could be a couple of years older.
'Anything is possible. [Medical] experts will examine her and will try to determine her age and possibly her origin,' Mr Pardalis added.
'This case has caused a huge international interest. It has brought to the surface the subject of child trafficking and has given hope to so many parents whose children are missing,' he said.
Maria's case has even given a glimmer of hope to the parents of British girl Madeleine McCann who have been searching for their daughter since May 2007 when she vanished from their holiday apartment in Portugal.
Greek authorities are working with Interpol to trace Maria's biological parents in a Europe-wide search, according to a police source.
The state-run Athens News Agency reported on Sunday that police were investigating hospitals and childcare agencies for possible child trafficking, suspecting a ring operating between Bulgaria and Greece.
'The police are investigating every possible angle,' a spokeswoman at the local Larissa police station said.
In January 2011, police had arrested more than a dozen people in the two neighbouring Balkan countries, for trafficking newborn babies to Greece.
The ring arranged for pregnant Bulgarian women, primarily of Roma origin, to give birth in Greece with their babies then sold off in illegal adoption procedures.
AFP
Posted by Unknown on Monday, October 21, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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