He risked being struck if his loot was insufficient.
A 41-year-old Romanian was sentenced Friday in Paris to five years' imprisonment for forcing his teenage half-brother to steal, following a trial which shed light on the "clan" functioning of part of the Roma community, according to the words of the prosecution.
This file is that of a “clan closed session”, of “confinement followed by an attempt at emancipation” on the part of the victim, now almost 19 years old, commented before the Departmental Criminal Court General Counsel Sylvie Kachaner.
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The accused, Marius I., also received a permanent ban from French territory after being found guilty of “trafficking in human beings”, which he contested.
His half-brother accused him of forcing him to spend all day stealing.
However, the court did not accept the violence attributed to him.
Never schooled
The victim, Adrian (first name changed), also imprisoned for theft, accuses their father, aged 59, of the same acts.
The latter is in Romania and is the subject of a search warrant.
Already convicted in 2019 for similar facts concerning one of his daughters-in-law, he was initially to be tried in his absence alongside Marius I. But for procedural reasons, his trial was postponed to a later date, before a court of seats.
According to Adrian's account, the events began when he was 12 years old.
Six days a week – Tuesday being his only “day of rest” – he had to leave his camp in the morning and risked being beaten if his loot was insufficient.
The hearing was marked by the inconsistencies and contradictions of the young man who gave different versions of certain details.
Adrian, illiterate, has never been to school.
Between the ages of 14 and 16, he was “unhappy, malnourished, beaten, forced to steal”: his speech certainly presents “weaknesses and fragilities” but it should not be called into question, argued his lawyer, Me Marie Millasseau.
Phenomenon of “control”
For Guillaume Lardanchet, president of the “Hors la rue” association, which helps foreign minors in danger, this issue relates to a phenomenon of “control” in force in part of the Roma community, originally from the same Romanian region.
The adults concerned force their children to steal to repay debts contracted, particularly during marriages, he explained.
However, such mechanisms are not specific to the Roma and only concern a “minority” of this community, insisted the association leader.
“We are not here to shed light on a phenomenon, but to decide the guilt of a man,” said the accused’s lawyer, Me Paul Faucon, who pleaded for acquittal.
For him, Adrian “lies all the time”: his statements, of “dizzying fragility”, lead to a file of “odds and ends”.
“We are considering appealing,” he responded.
For his part, Adrian is “satisfied to have been recognized in his victim status”, commented Me Millasseau.
According to her, it was not a question of “making an example”, but this verdict should “encourage” other victims.