Greek Roma couple found not guilty of abduction of girl

A Greek Roma couple, who attracted local and international media attention two years ago when police found that a girl living with them was not their biological child, was found not guilty of abduction on Monday.

Eleftheria Dimopoulou and Christos Sallis were sentenced by a court in the central Greece city of Larissa to 48 months and 18 months in prison respectively only for forgery of documents.

The couple was arrested in the autumn of 2013 in a case that shocked Greek society.

During a routine survey at a Roma camp near the city of Larissa, police officers noticed a blue-eyed, blonde-haired girl unlike the couple posing as her parents.

After a thorough check into documents and DNA tests, it was found that the then four-year child named Maria was not related to the 40-year-old woman and the 39-year-old man who were raising her and claiming benefits from the state.

Maria's biological parents, also Romas, were eventually traced in Bulgaria after an international search.

The case drew attention to the problematic integration of Romas in Greece and Europe.

Both Roma couples vied for custody, but Maria was taken care of by Greek social services.

Dimopoulou and Sallis claimed that the child was willfully handed over to them when she was just a few months old by her biological mother who was working in Greece at the time.

Maria currently lives in a children's shelter home and has started school. Psychologists say she is gradually recovers from her traumas. Enditem