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Anastasia Balezdrova

On 7 January 2014 the court in Larissa will consider the request of the Roma couple from Farsala to legally adopt little Maria, as stated by their defenders for GRReporter. If the court rejects their request, the child will be given up for adoption in Greece. "In all cases, the decision on what will happen to Maria depends on the prosecutor in Larissa," said the defender. So far, Maria has been sheltered by the child protection foundation "The Smile of the Child" in Athens.

A few days ago, the court rejected the request of Christos Sali, aged 39 and his wife Eleftheria Dimopoulou, aged 40, to release them from custody. The man is in the prison in Larissa and the woman in the prison in the Athens suburb of Korydallos.

The charges against the two involve abduction of a child and documentary fraud. By law, they will again be entitled to request their release after two months. According to sources, their defenders will offer the court to release their clients from custody and to impose restrictive measures on them.
 
At the same time, according to a report in the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, Maria’s biological siblings are still living in the village of Nikolaevo. "British newspapers and American television channels reported that the youngest of the 9 children in the family, namely Nasko, aged 3, and Penka, aged 2, had been sent to an orphanage in the city of Stara Zagora. Other media informed that the mother was with them. On 29 October, the mayor of the village of Nikolaevo, Kosio Kossev told the British newspaper The Telegraph that the other children would be sent to orphanages or foster families. Nothing of this is true," writes Ta Nea’s reporter.

Sashka Russeva, aged 38, and her two youngest children Penka and Nasko, and the husband of their sister Elenka, aged 18, behind them; photo: Ta Nea newspaper

He had met with Maria’s biological parents in the house of their 18-year-old daughter Penka. According to Sashka Russeva, the two youngest children are living with her ​​husband’s sister, who is living in Nikolaevo too. "Her house is bigger and there are more beds there. State representatives came to me and told me that the children cannot live in our house if we do not repair it. I take them for half an hour a day to see them," said the woman.

The Bulgarian Agency for Child Protection has confirmed that Maria’s brothers and sisters are living with relatives of the family and that the oldest of them, who are attending school, are receiving special care on the part of the relevant institutions, without specification as to its nature, as stated in the report.