Pforzheim/Enz district. It was an intense interrogation: a former EU official who describes herself as a whistleblower sat on the witness stand in the Pforzheim district court for four hours. In the appeal process, a 50-year-old defendant from the Enzkreis district is accused of defamation. As the PZ reported, she is said to have described the Pforzheim city councilor Oana Krichbaum as a "child trafficker" in four Facebook posts.

The witness worked until 2005 in the Commission for EU enlargement and, according to her testimony, dealt with the issue of child protection in Romania. At that time, adoption agencies from Romania are said to have worked together with agencies from other EU countries to place children from Romania with parents abroad.

A system that the EU official did not seem to be comfortable with. "It was legal back then. But history shows us that not everything that was legal is always good," said the woman, who had traveled to Pforzheim from Belgium.

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REGION+

Sam Bettens (50) has many stories to tell. That much is clear after his episode of 'Het huis'. One of the most poignant is that of a failed adoption, just before Sam and his partner Stef had their first child Charlie. “Suddenly the hospital door opened again and the car seat came out. Without a baby.”

Sam and Stef have two adopted children, Charlie and Jett. Charlie almost hadn't been their first child. “Before Charlie arrived, we had parents change their minds,” says Sam. “We were about to leave the hospital with a baby. We had just talked to the pediatrician, he had given us a bag of baby food and an explanation for the next few days. And we had already fitted our seat in the car.”

Suddenly the door of the hospital room where the parents were, closed. Sam and Stef were in the hallway. “The door opened again and the car seat came out. Without a baby.” With private adoption, a kind of surrogacy, parents can only sign away their rights after birth. They are given a few days to change their mind. In this case, it was the father who opposed the adoption. “The father refused to give the baby to a lesbian couple,” explains Sam. “He said no way. That's heavy."

Sam and Stef went back to the hotel, where the clothes for their baby were ready and the bed was already set up. “We cried all night. We flew home without a baby.”

Indescribable

Sam Bettens is a guest in 'Het Huis' this week. He tells Eric Goens about his two coming outs, but also about the very difficult adoption process.

We know Sam Bettens better as the frontman of K's Choice. The singer has been living in the United States for years with his wife Stef Kramer. The couple has four children. Two children from Stef's previous relationship and two adopted children: Jett and Charlie. Sam now tells in ' Het Huis ' that the adoption process was very tough.

“What was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives became the deepest thing there is,” he admits frankly. For example, Sam says that they had already fitted the child seat in the car and that they were about to leave the hospital. “The car seat comes out, with no baby, and then the door closes again,” says Sam.

Goens wonders if the mother changed her mind at the last minute, but that was not the reason. “The father refused to give the child to a lesbian couple,” explains Sam. “The father finally said: 'No way!'”

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Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic confirmed on Friday that the children from the Congo, who were adopted in Zambia by four Croatian couples subsequently arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, had Croatian documents.

“An investigation is being conducted. The children have Croatian documents that were issued based on appropriate decisions by Croatian institutions,” said Bozinovic at the Police Academy.

He added that at the moment several Croatian departments are cooperating and exchanging information in coordination with the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry (MVEP), which is in charge of taking care of Croatian citizens outside the Republic of Croatia.

Eight Croatian citizens have been detained in Zambia for more than three weeks due to suspicion about the validity of documents for adopting minor Congolese children, MVEP confirmed last Saturday.

Four couples from Croatia were arrested in Zambia on 7 December on suspicion of human trafficking, Croatian media reported last week, adding that the couples intended to adopt children from the Congo.

At the beginning of December, seven Croatian citizens were arrested in Zambia, due to doubts about the validity of the documents for the adoption of minor children from the DR Congo. The investigation is still ongoing, and the Croatian institutions are transferring responsibility for the adoption process, Croatian reports. Index.

The investigation involving several competent authorities will determine what really happened, whether someone forged Congolese documents or failed in the adoption process of Congolese children who received Croatian documents. Currently there are various theories about this and various information and misinformation is being spread.

On Wednesday, there was also a misunderstanding when the President of the Supreme Court of Croatia, Radovan Dobroni?, stated that the Croatian courts made a mistake and that the procedure on the basis of which Congolese children received Croatian documents was not valid, because Congo is a signatory to the Convention on the Protection of Children. therefore the procedure should be different.

But Dobronic later admitted that he had made a mistake and confused the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Namely, DR Congo is not a signatory to the Convention and the adoption procedure is under the jurisdiction of the courts, not the Ministry of Family and Social Policy.

He announced that the Supreme Court will rule on the adoption on Thursday.

A Zambian court has granted bail to eight Croatian nationals charged with child trafficking

NDOLA, Zambia -- A magistrate in Zambia on Thursday granted bail to eight Croatian nationals charged with child trafficking.

Magistrate David Makalicha in Ndola, in the mineral-rich Copperbelt province, said the eight should each pay 20,000 Kwacha (about $1,000) bail and surrender their passports to the court.

The eight were named as Damir Magic, 44, Nadica Magic, 45, Zoran Subosic, 52, Azra Imamovic Subosic, 41, Ladislav Persic, 42, Aleksandra Persic, 40, Noah Kraljevic, 45, and Ivona Kraljevic, 46, when they first appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to charges of child trafficking.

They are defended by a legal aid lawyer, Kelvin Silwimba. In the charges brought before the court, the Croatians are accused of attempting to traffic four named children late last year into Zambia “for the purpose of exploitation.”

A court in Zambia has decided that eight Croatian nationals, arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and falsifying adoption papers in order to adopt children from the Republic of Congo, can be released after posting bail of one thousand dollars and handing over their passports.

The next hearing in the process for alleged human trafficking against the eight Croatian citizens, whose intentions Croatian Foreign Affairs Minister Gordan Grli? Radman assessed as noble, will be held in Zambia on January 23rd. The court had previously allowed them to be released from prison if they posted bail and travel documents. In addition, they will have to report to the police regularly. The eight Croatians, who have been detained for a month in Zambia’s third largest city, Ndola, appeared before a judge for the first time two days ago. They are accused of attempted human trafficking and the falsification of documents.

The four married couples were arrested at the beginning of December at the airport in Ndola on suspicion of human trafficking, specifically that their documents for the adoption of children from the Congo were falsified. Their lawyer Kelvin Silwimba filed a request two days ago to release the accused on bail, however, state prosecutor Francis Mulenga objected to this, arguing that there was clear flight risk. On Thursday, after the court heard from three witnesses, the court decided to release the eight suspects once they meet the required conditions.

An official of the Croatian embassy in South Africa, which also covers Zambia, visited the detained Croatians several times. He also tried to visit the children, who now have Croatian documents and have been transferred to local social welfare services, but his visit was prevented.

Currently there are eight couples in Croatia that are in the process of adopting children from Congo. Since 2012, 131 children from the Congo have been adopted in Croatia. Authorities say the adoption decisions will not be re-evaluated. The head of the Department for Child and Family Protection at the Family and Social Policy Ministry, Melita ?usek: "In question are children who are Croatian citizens, who have integrated into Croatian society, who are attending school in Croatia, know our language, know these people as their parents, and I truly don't see any sense in re-examining those decisions."

Eight (8) Croatian nationals have pleaded not guilty to the offence of attempted trafficking in four children of Congolese origin on the Zambian territory.

Appearing before Ndola Chief Resident Magistrate Dominic Makalicha on Tuesday morning, the four couples told the court that they understood the charge but were not guilty.

Particulars of the offence are that Damir Magic aged 44 and seven others on 7th December 2022 in Ndola on the Copperbelt Province jointly and whilst acting together did attempt to traffic a child namely Beatrice Magic within the territorial boundaries of Zambia for the purpose of exploitation.

The offence is contrary to section 3A (1) and 12 of Human Trafficking Act No.11 of 2008 as Amended by Act No.16 of 2022 of the laws of Zambia.

The Croatian suspects are Damir Magic aged 44, his wife Nadica Magic aged 45, Subosic Zoran aged 52, his wife Azra Imamovic Subosic aged 41, Ladislav Persic aged 42, his wife Aleksandr Persic aged 40, Noah Kraljevic aged 45 and his wife Ivona Kraljevic aged 36.

Hoe is het nu met de deelnemers van ‘Wie Kent Mij Nog?’

24 december 2020

Hoe is het nu met de deelnemers van ‘Wie Kent Mij Nog?’ LINK

Tijdens de landelijke Week tegen Eenzaamheid in oktober deelde de EO de levensverhalen van vijf eenzame mensen. In ‘Wie Kent Mij Nog?’ vertelden zij hoe hun eenzaamheid is ontstaan en hoe het is om eenzaam te zijn.

Het zijn ontroerende verhalen van vijf compleet verschillende mensen die laten zien dat eenzaamheid veel verder gaat dan het ontbreken van sociaal contact. In deze laatste maand van het jaar gaat de EO opnieuw naar ze toe om te zien hoe het nu met ze gaat. Zijn ze inmiddels minder eenzaam? Zit er met kerst iemand bij ze aan tafel?

A judicial source, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arab News: “The incident of Shenouda is not unique. There are many similar stories that were not covered by the media

CAIRO: The case of a four-year-old boy, Shenouda, who was raised by a Coptic couple who found him abandoned outside a church, has sparked a heated debate in Egypt involving human rights activists and lawmakers.

Activists have called for the case to be brought before the House of Representatives in the hope that Egypt’s laws regarding the adoption of children by Christians will be amended.

Shenouda was raised as a Christian by the Coptic couple. But the husband’s niece filed a legal case claiming that the couple had kidnapped a Muslim child, as a result of which Shenouda was taken from his foster parents and placed in an orphanage by the public prosecutor.

Shenouda’s foster mother Amal, 50, alleged that the niece filed the case because of a family dispute over inheritance.