Galery

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Four days after a girl, aged 13, disappeared from her home in the Athens suburb of Spata, the Greek police managed to find her. Late last night, Christina Chrasa was found in the woodland in the region of Loutra Eleftheron near the northern Greek city of Kavala and was immediately taken to hospital for a preventive examination.

The girl was reported missing through the Amber Alert tracing system. As became clear later, Christina had left her home voluntarily and travelled by intercity bus to Kavala to meet a young man of Albanian origin, aged 23, whom she had “met” on Facebook.

The authorities found this after examining the girl’s profile on the social network. Then, the prosecutor ordered that the name and photos of 23-year-old Marion Ayazi with whom Christina was in love as revealed by her posts on the Internet be circulated in the media. The police realized in the same way that they both had planned her escape.

The authorities found in her profile posts like, "This is the big love. It takes you to the moon first and then leaves you alone, looking for ways to get back." Marion wrote in response, "Why are you writing this? When have I left you, my love?"

The publications in the social network also reveal the fact that he and Christina had planned how she could go to him. Her sister wrote in a message, "Sis, I love you and will never leave you." Marion replied to this comment, "Well, do not take it to heart. I will not take her all the way to China."

On Monday night, Christina met Marion in Kavala and then they hid in the area around the city which the young man knew well since he worked as a shepherd there.

While the national media were circulating the news that Christina had disappeared, the 23-year-old man made the fatal "mistake" that the authorities had expected. On Wednesday, he went to a Bulgarian acquaintance of his, who also worked as a shepherd, and asked him for some bread and cheese in order for him and Christina, aged 13, to eat. Several hours later, the authorities with the help of sniffer dogs found the traces of the two fugitives in an abandoned sheep shed.

Marion was not aware of the fact that the police had already warned his former employer to inform them if he appeared. Last night, he actually went together with the girl to the man for whom he had worked the previous year to ask him for food. The police were waiting for them in the surrounding woodland. However, when they took the food, Marion felt the police presence and fled into the dark forest alone.

Several minutes later, "The Smile of the Child", the organization that protects children, announced that Christina had been found and taken to hospital. Her relatives arrived there a little later. It also become clear that the girl lives in Spata with her grandmother. She grew up without a father. Her mother is a drug addict and she is living in a house for people with such problems.

The police captured Marion, aged 23, in the early Friday afternoon and accused him of kidnapping teenage Christina to the degree of felony. He is residing in Greece illegally. Last year, he was even extradited after a small amount of marijuana was found on him.

The case has again raised the question about the dangers posed by social networks, especially to children and minors. In his comment for Alpha 989 radio station, Manolis Sfakianakis, head of the Greek police department to combat electronic crimes, warns of the "online illiteracy", which leads to similar incidents.

"The case is identical to that of a famous basketball player’s sister, aged 14, who was the victim of sexual violence," he told the media. "You should not post your picture and become "friends" on Facebook with people you do not know. Your behaviour in social networks must be the same as in your everyday life," was his advice to the young web users. In his words, even adults often have been influenced and have left their families because of Facebook contacts.

Manolis Sfakianakis also refers to the case of the suicide of an Italian girl due to a video with her participation uploaded on the social network. Despite the appeals of her friends, Facebook did not remove the video, which led to the tragic accident. "There are problems with Facebook worldwide. The company does not pay much attention to the calls for assistance we send on a daily basis. It complies with only one out of ten requests," Sfakianakis stresses, adding that a trial in connection with the suicide case will begin in Italy.