Belarus:A diplomatic row over the alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old Belarusian orphan has led to the cancellation of a Christmas visit to Italy by thousands of other orphans from the former Soviet state.
The Belarusian government has refused to allow 2,500 orphans to stay with Italian families after an Italian couple blocked the return home of a visiting orphan in September, claiming she had been abused in her Belarusian orphanage.
Alessandro Giusto and his wife, Chiara Bornacin, said the 10-year-old, known only as Maria, showed signs of beating and had tried to commit suicide by drowning during her visit. Ms Bornacin said she would rather go to prison than see Maria hurt again.
The couple took Maria into hiding, but she was found and returned to Belarus.
"I believe their act of egoism has given the Belarusian government an excuse to act the way it has," said Antonio Bianchi, president of AVIB, an association involved in the visits, which were set up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
In the run-up to the Christmas visit, the Minsk government said that orphans could fly to Italy on condition they stayed in institutions and not with families.
The Italian government refused the conditions, demanding that all the children went to families or not at all. On December 15th, the Italian minister for social solidarity, Paolo Ferrero, wrote to the host Italian families to announce "with a dead heart" that the tactic had failed and Minsk was closing the door for Christmas.
- (Guardian service)