BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/09/2006

Belarus urges return of girl held in Italy

MINSK, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - The Belarussian side has sent an urgent inquiry to the Interpol about the fate of a Belarussian girl who is illegally held in Italy, Vika Moroz.

The Italian media gave her the pseudonym Masha.

The chief of the Interior Ministry's public relations department, Yekaterina Samusenkova-Shelegova, told ITAR-TASS on Friday that that the Belarussian side asked the Interpol to find out the whereabouts of the girl and circumstances of the incident, and help her return to the homeland.

The ten-year-old Vika is a pupil of Vileisk's boarding-school for children with severe speech disorders.

The Belarussian Justice Ministry sent o Thursday a request to the Italian justice minister about the rapid return of the girl.

Vika Moroz arrived in Italy in the summer for holidaying.

When she was about to leave on September 8, a childless Italian couple, Alessandro Gusto and Maria-Kiara Bornacin, hid the girl after she told a story of her harassment in the boarding-school.

There is information suggesting that the Italian family is going to adopt the Belarussian girl.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10816308&PageNum=0