France: Moroccan sentenced for marrying minor

France: Moroccan sentenced for marrying minor

A 29 year old Moroccan was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison on Wednesday by the correctional court of Evry for sexual relations with a 14 year old with which he was religiously 'married' in 2000.

He's on the run and there's a warrant for his arrest.

The brother of the main suspect was sentenced to six months suspended sentence for complicity, for having made his apartment in Grigny (Essonne) available for the couple to spend the 'wedding night' and the next three weeks, during which the victim was unable to freely live the place.

Originally the prosecution wanted to charge for violence and kidnapping.  The facts were reclassified after many procedural events.

The companion of the father of the young woman, who was originally responsible for the purchase of the wedding dress and who had provided the girl with contraceptive pills, was also sentenced for a suspended sentence of two months in prison for complicity.

The case of the victim's father, also prosecuted for complicity, was separated due to a procedural problem.  He is the former imam of Grigny, known to the authorities for his radical sermons, and expelled to Morocco on Jan. 2007.

In court, the victim, today 23 years old, explained that at the time she considered the marriage as a means of freeing herself from the paternal yoke, before maintaining that her father 'imposed' the union.

It its requisition, the prosecution referred to a 'pseudo-marriage' stemming from 'pseudo consent", after which the girl was subjected to sexual relations twice a day for 22 days with her 'husband', described as brutal.

The young woman, a French citizen, was 'married' to a young Moroccan, who was 21 years old, an illegal which she didn't know at the time, for a dowry of 2,000 or 3,000 francs.

Source: Le Monde (French), h/t Bivouac-ID

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