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Anastasia Balezdrova

The Bulgarian police are searching, near the town of Sandanski, for the biological father of Maria who has been found in a Roma camp as confirmed by a police source for GRReporter. The operations are being carried out in cooperation with the Greek police although, until Tuesday, Greece had not made ​​a formal request for assistance, as stated by the spokesman of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry before the Bulgarian television channel, BTV. Sources claim that the Bulgarian police have found the child's father.

Yesterday Interpol circulated to all members of the international police organization a yellow notice for Maria, including her DNA profile and her photograph. ​​Interpol urges all states that have a DNA database to include Maria’s profile in it.

At the same time, both Roma, the alleged parents, have been sent into detention. The woman is in the female wing of the prison in Korydallos and the man is in the prison in Larissa.

After the five-day media marathon there, the city of Larissa has returned to its normal rhythm. Today there is no indication of the turbulent events that had been happening there until yesterday. "There are no police or police buses and everything is quiet outside the courthouse," Dimitra Tziotziou, a correspondent for Real News newspaper and Real Fm radio in Larissa, told GRReporter.
 
"The people in Larissa were impressed by the fact that journalists and TV crews from international media had arrived in the city. They wanted to see which media had arrived, their broadcasts and to compare their method of work to that of their counterparts from Greece. But the truth is that they wanted to learn more about the events, the detainees and about what had happened. However, the common opinion is that this case is about a deal among Roma rather than about kidnapping."

According to her, the strong media interest was the reason for the change in the behaviour of the local Roma. "In the beginning, the Roma did not understand what was happening. Many of them easily accepted the journalists, showed them where the child had slept, how the family lived; they were very friendly in general. Over time, however, their attitude changed and they began to demand money for the photos and videos in order to earn something."

According to Dimitra, the Roma from the camp in Farsala were willing to answer all the questions of the journalists at first. "Gradually, however, they stopped talking and we could not make them utter a word. Apparently they did not expect that the measure of custody would be imposed on the detainees."

The reporter states that the international media, namely CNN, the BBC and Reuters, were more interested in the course of the police and judicial investigation, in the condition of little Maria and were seeking her photographs. "I would say that they had paid almost no attention to the Roma as a community. When we were talking with each other they were always asking if we had learnt something new about the child or if we had found a new photograph or video."

Although the centre of events is no longer in their city, the inhabitants of Larissa continue to discuss what happened. "During the events, the people gathered in the cafes near the courthouse to see who the detainees in the case were, whether the Roma who had gathered outside the court would react in some way. But I think it was due to curiosity rather than to the fact their city had become the centre of global media attention," the journalist concludes.