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15 February 2007
Belgian police are currently investigating the marriage of 22 year old man to a 13-year-old girl. The wedding took place in October 2004 and only resurfaced recently when the older sister of the young ‘bride’ realised her identity had been stolen.
It wasn’t a love match, the couple only lived together for one month and it seems that the mother of the girl arranged the illegal wedding.
The ‘husband’ had just arrived from Morocco and had no legal papers to stay in Belgium. The future wife pretended to be her sister, said she had lost her ID card and managed to fool the civil servants on duty.
The older sister was travelling through Europe at the time. When she came back she was surprised to see that her title had changed to ‘Madame’ on several letters issued by the city hall. She first thought it was a mistake but after receiving several letters she went to the city hall and found out that her sister had stolen her identity.
The investigation will establish who was involved in arranging the illegal marriage and who should be held accountable. Sexual intercourse between an adult and a child under 14 years-of-age is, by law, considered rape.
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Subject: Belgian news