German teenagers between 12 and 18, brought to Romania to participate in a reeducation program in Maramures (Projekt Maramures), financed by the German state, ended up being held as slaves, beaten and used for exhausting labour, Romanian investigators have found.
Romania officials are investigating an organized crime group in Viseu de Sus and Leordina, in Maramures, for human trafficking and illegal deprivation of liberty.
A German couple was involved in the illegal activities, which were carried out under an authorized educational program aimed at helping German teenagers with severe behavioural problems recover and reintegrate in society.
The two Germans brought the teens to Maramures and forced them to do hard labour in the households of some locals. The teens were humiliated, beaten and held in slave-like conditions, according to the Romanian prosecutors.
The children who didn’t comply with the program’s rules were starved, left outside in the cold or rain, and invasive medical procedures were performed on them against their will. Some minors even had suicidal intentions after such punishments, according to the investigators.
Romanian authorities said the German couple allegedly created the program for human trafficking “under the guise of carrying out legitimate educational services.”
Prosecutors added that the teens were not allowed to study or take their prescription drugs. They had no contact with the outside world and were targets of “harsh and brutal methods of so-called reeducation.”
The alleged abuses began in 2014 and went on until this month, prosecutors said.
