Kidnapped Romani child's grandfather rejects charges she was trafficked

The German tabloid daily Bild has reported online that the family of Michala Janová, the Romani infant who was kidnapped on 4 July from the village of Trmice (Ústí Region) in the Czech Republic, was actually involved in exchanging her for a house and plot of land in Germany. Bild quotes a source from within the German police detectives’ circle who claims the perpetrator and the family of the kidnapped infant knew one another prior to the incident. The Czech Press Agency and other Czech media outlets have republished this information, even though the German tabloid is the only source for it.

Radomír Niedl, little Michala’s grandfather, not only rejects the charges, but considers that sort of journalism to be “hyena-like”. The Czech Police have said it is not likely the infant was trafficked.

A 50-year-old man from Thuringia removed the little girl straight from her pram on 4 July in full view of her mother. He and his 47-year-old female partner drove with her to the town of Neuwied near Koblenz in Germany. Police found Michala there several days later and arrested the two kidnappers. She went home last weekend.

The suspects, Uwe R. and his female partner, have confessed to the crime but have not said why they committed it. Bild has reported that Michala could have been “part of a dirty trade in which she was supposed to be exchanged for a house and plot of land”. However, the German daily does not publish very many details and does not say who was supposedly involved in the trafficking. The tabloid only writes that the mother of the little girl was not involved.

“In the case of her father, who was arrested by Czech Police after the kidnapping, the paper is asking what he knew about it,” the Czech Press Agency writes. Michala’s father’s arrest was not, however, related to the kidnapping at all.

Veronika Hyšplerová, spokesperson for the Ústí Police, says the suspected kidnappers are defending their actions with a story of exchanging the little girl for a house. Czech Police, however, say there are no indications that such claims are true.

Radomír Niedl, the grandfather of little Michala, considers the claims that the kidnapping was actually trafficking to be offensive. “That is seriously messed up. Only someone with no heart could invent something like that. I have never wished any harm to anyone in my life, but I hope the people who published that have to experience the same thing we did someday. Then we’ll see how they behave,” Niedl told news server Romea.cz.

Niedl said no one should publish information that has not been properly verified. “Even if the truth about us were to be published 100 times now, that suspicion will stick to us and few people will be convinced otherwise. If I had the strength, I would sue everyone who has published these lies,” Michala’s grandfather said.

Niedl is convinced the real motivation for his granddaughter’s kidnapping will come to light soon. “According to my source in Germany, it will be soon. People will probably be very surprised when the real motivation is publicized,” he said.

Ivana Šťastná, head of the Social Welfare Department at the Ústí town hall, said the family has been trouble-free. “We have never had them on the welfare rolls. We monitored the family for the very first time after the kidnapping, when we had to submit a report on them to the Office for the International Protection of Children,” she told news server iDNES.cz.