HOME
 CONTACT YOUR COMMENT NEWS: 2006 2005 2004 2003 Award Winner's Serial 2002 2001 1998 INTERNATIONAL: 1999-2003 |
International
REUTERS, January 23, 2003. A California couple accused of recruiting Hungarian women to provide babies for a child-selling ring TRANSLATED SANTA ANA, California, USA, (Reuters) - A California couple accused of recruiting Hungarian women to provide babies for a child-selling ring pleaded guieral wire fraud and tax evasion charges.Under the terms of a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors in Orange County, California, Marianne Gati, 54, could be sentenced to up to 21 months in prison and Thomas Gati, 52, faces a year of probation and a fine.Marianne Gati admitted to running a baby mill, in which Hungarian women were recruited and paid to give up their children for adoption by U.S. couples, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan McCurrie. She worked with lawyers in Southern California and Canada to smuggle the women into America and to conceal the nature of the adoptions from the adoptive parents, McCurrie said. He added that Gati described herself as an "adoption consultant" working in suburban Orange County south of Los Angeles.The scheme resulted in 20 adoptions which netted the Gatis $360,000, prosecutors said. The couple were scheduled to be sentenced April 14. McCurrie said the Hungarian government had indicated to U.S. officials that it "was not interested in taking the children away from their adoptive parents." A spokesman for the Hungarian Consulate in Los Angeles could not be reached for comment.
The Albanian Ministry of Public Order published statistics provided by Interpol in July that found that 6,075 children -- victims of the slave trade -- had been smuggled abroad. Nearly 4,000 of them are now in Italy and 2,800 are being exploited for drug trafficking, pedophilia, begging and other forms of labour. "About 20 per cent of these kids are living in rehabilitation centres," said Ylli Dylgjeri, General Secretary of the Public Order Ministry. Save the Children, meanwhile, reported that more than 9,000 children have been trafficked from Albania to Western Europe. That figure represents 65 per cent of the entire number of trafficked children from Eastern Europe who are sent to the West, the NGO said. According to the French NGO Terre des Hommes, 6,000 children between the ages of 12 and 14 are smuggled from Eastern to Western Europe every year. Under Albania's penal code, those found guilty of human trafficking face up to 20 years in prison. Yet in the past ten years, no one has been convicted or imprisoned on charges of exploiting minors or trafficking children. However, Albania’s new government has demonstrated an increasing commitment to combating crime and corruption in the country, including human trafficking. Prime Minister Fatos Nano told parliament last week that the government was intent on shutting down trafficking routes and bringing individual perpetrators to justice. Albanian authorities contend that the illegal sea route to Italy has been brought under control, after a successful operation last month. The United States recently moved Albania to the second tier list of countries involved in human trafficking, recognising its commitment to fighting such activities. In late August, Xhulieta Petalla and her husband Ramiz were detained after entering Italy with three Albanian children. According to Italian police, the Petallas smuggled 56 children into Italy during the past year. A few months earlier, Xhulieta Petalla was arrested in Fier, Albania, on charges of smuggling children, but a court in Durres released her. On 21 September, a court in Elbasan ordered the detention of Almir and Alketa Shaqiri after a 10-year-old Roma girl said she had been forced by them to beg in Athens for four years. The couple, however, is still missing. Trafficking has been a public concern since 1994, when a Roma woman from Elbasan sued the Korca Orphans’ House after she found that her baby girl was missing. She was told that her child died due to an illness, but the grave turned out to be empty. The investigation was never made public and the case was considered closed by the Prosecution Office. Another scandal involved a British man who established a charity house in Korca. According to local media, he nourished extremely poor children, gaining the trust of their families. Afterwards he would ask the mothers for custody of these children. They were asked to fill out a form that gave the man the right to adopt their children. According to the Prosecutor General, in 1998 there were six such charity houses in Albania, most of them located in Korca and Elbasan. Some of these activities were masked as religious organisations. "Panorama" has reported that child trafficking yields between $7 billion and $10 billion worldwide each year. Addressing a special session dedicated to children, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said this trade has affected more than 30 million children worldwide. By Alban Bala and V.O. Alma Cupi for Balkan Times in Tirana
A NICOSIA gynaecologist suspected of being involved in the sale of a three-day-old baby to a Greek couple was yesterday arrested. The 37-old-man, who practices at a well-known Nicosia clinic, allegedly conspired with two other individuals in arranging the sale, police said. According to police, the doctor arranged the arrival on the island of a Romanian woman who four days ago gave birth to a healthy boy by caesarean section. Police said the suspect immediately handed the child over to a Greek couple who were allegedly present at the clinic, bypassing all legal adoption procedures. Reports said the baby's mother, who is married to a Romanian man, allegedly came to Cyprus to work as an artiste in a cabaret. Police are looking into the possibility of an artiste agent also being involved in the case, since it has been reported the woman was seven months pregnant when she arrived on the island. Police HQ CID Director Tasos Panayiotou remained tight-lipped yesterday but did not rule out further arrests. The gynaecologist was arrested at 2pm. Police last night issued a statement stressing that the owners of the clinic were not in any way involved in the case under investigation and were only renting space to the suspect. Justice Minister Nicos Koshis said police, who had information about the alleged deal, had been watching the situation closely, and acted with utmost secrecy. He said the Greek couple who were present at the clinic were going to try and pass the baby off as their own. The baby boy is now under the care of the welfare office. The suspect will be presented before the Nicosia district court today. Police were now looking into the possibility of any similar cases taking place in the past and if an organised ring was behind the act. By George Psyllides
REUTERS - A gang that organized the sale of 19 newborn babies in the United States has been arrested in Moscow. The group, led by an American woman and Russian man, had sold fourteen girls and five boys for up to $30,000 each, giving $10,000 to the mothers. Under the scheme, pregnant Russians went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, between 1995 and 1998 to give birth, and then let U.S. families keep the children in arranged adoptions. The gang was reported to the police by the mother of the twentieth baby to go on sale. After she failed to get a U.S. visa on time, she gave birth in Moscow and was not paid the money promised by the gang leaders. Five members of the group have been arrested. The suspects worked for Special Delivery Adoption Services, an organization operated out of New York City and Baton Rouge by two U.S. citizens, identified by the police as Nina B. and Vasily N. Russia has become a major source of children for adoption to western families. An estimated one million children live on the streets.
BBC NEWS, November 25, 1998. / source World: Americas Argentina baby theft arrest TRANSLATED
The accusations are similar to those against Jorge Videla, the former army lieutenant general who headed the junta with Mr Massera. Mr Videla is currently under house arrest in connection with the alleged theft of four babies. As chief of the military, Mr Videla had final authority over death squads that waged a "dirty war" of torture and murder against political opponents. Mr Massera, as the head of the navy, was responsible for the junta's most notorious torture centre, the Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA). Both men were sentenced to life in 1985 for human rights abuses, but were pardoned in 1990 by President Carlos Menem. However, the amnesty does not cover the kidnapping of children. Cecilia Vinas' son was eventually raised by Jorge Vildoza, one of Mr Massera's chief assistants, until the son took a DNA test when he was 20 that helped reveal his real parents. His biological father, Reynaldo Penin, was also among the disappeared. The government says around 9,000 Argentines disappeared during the military regime's war on leftists and dissidents. Human rights groups say the figure is closer to 30,000. Witnesses testified how pregnant prisoners at the ESMA were induced into giving birth. Their babies were taken away and brought up by childless military couples. The mothers were usually killed, it is alleged. They were reportedly dumped into the sea on regular "death flights," or shot and incinerated in an oven or buried under a sports field. Mr Massera, 73, is to appear in court next week in a separate case involving other children born to parents in captivity. He has denied the allegations and his lawyer Miguel Arce Aggeo plans to appeal. Opposing groups of Massera supporters and protesters gathered outside the hearing. Leftists held up photographs of the disappeared and called for Mr Massera to spend the rest of his life in prison. 'Babies' mothers were slain' The case against Mr Massera involves the children of Patricia Roisinblit and Cecilia Vinas, two women who disappeared in 1976 from the Buenos Aires naval facility.
His biological father, Reynaldo Penin, was also among the disappeared. The government says around 9,000 Argentines disappeared during the military regime's war on leftists and dissidents. Human rights groups say the figure is closer to 30,000. Witnesses testified how pregnant prisoners at the ESMA were induced into giving birth. Their babies were taken away and brought up by childless military couples. The mothers were usually killed, it is alleged.
Mr Massera, 73, is to appear in court next week in a separate case involving other children born to parents in captivity. He has denied the allegations and his lawyer Miguel Arce Aggeo plans to appeal. Opposing groups of Massera supporters and protesters gathered outside the hearing. Leftists held up photographs of the disappeared and called for Mr Massera to spend the rest of his life in prison.
|
A former Argentinian military ruler has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of newborn babies from jailed political dissidents during the dictatorship years.
It is estimated between 200 and 400 babies were taken from their mothers and given to military and police couples under the regime in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cecilia Vinas' son was eventually raised by Jorge Vildoza, one of Mr Massera's chief assistants, until the son took a DNA test when he was 20 that helped reveal his real parents.