Romanian prosecutors from the anti-organized crime department – DIICOT held a German citizen and four Romanians in the “Projekt Maramures” case. Two other people, namely a German woman and another Romanian, were placed under judicial control for a period of 60 days. Meanwhile, four German teenagers aged between 12 and 18, who were part of the program, were placed under protection at DIICOT’s request, according to Romania-Insider.com.
The “Projekt Marmures” case investigates the illegal deprivation of liberty of several German teenagers with special needs, sent for reeducation in Romania, as part of a program financed by the German state. The suspects allegedly held the teenagers in slave-like conditions, forced them to do hard labor and subjected them to severe punishments.
The German citizen and his wife are believed to have coordinated the organized crime group, which included a Romanian citizen and some of his relatives. They were charged with minor trafficking and illegal deprivation of liberty, DIICOT announced.
The project started in 2014, when the group started bringing to Romania German teenagers with antisocial behavior, coming from disorganized environments and with severe conditions (depression, psychosis, drug addiction), for reeducation. The German authorities took these children from their parents and entrusted them to the organization in Romania for rehabilitation. The program, financed by the German state, was supposed to include recreational activities in nature and multidisciplinary education provided by specialists in pedagogy, psychology and other fields.
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