Romania: Romanian Roma king Florin Cioaba yesterday defied a state investigation into whether he forced his 12-year-old daughter to marry against her will, refusing to allow medical authorities to examine the child.
Hundreds of wedding guests and a throng of reporters witnessed tearful princess Ana Maria try - but fail - to escape her lavish wedding on Saturday, in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, in a case that drew protests from European Union and Romanian officials.
The European Commission yesterday condemned Romania, which hopes to join the EU in 2007, for turning a blind eye instead of stopping the wedding.
The unwilling bride stormed out of the church, but was brought back by her family. Later that night, guests were shown a bloodied sheet to prove her marriage to 15-year-old Birita Mihai was consummated.
A friend of the bride quoted Ana Maria as saying the consummation of her marriage was like "a huge rock fell over her". But her older brother, Dorin, defended Roma customs and told Romanian television that his little sister's wedding night was "normal".
"There was no rape," he said.
Police and child-protection authorities in Sibiu were questioning the family. Officials said they had asked for the girl to undergo medical tests but Cioaba was defiant.
"There is no reason for her to undergo a forensic test," he told reporters in Sibiu. "The children wanted this and the parents gave their consent. It wasn't a forced marriage."
Child marriages among Romania's Roma (gypsies), estimated between 500,000 and three million, have been tolerated in the country. Girls can legally marry at 16 and have sex at 15.
EU Social Affairs Commissioner Ms Anna Diamantopoulou said, in a statement, Roma people must stop pleading for help in fighting discrimination while abusing the rights of their own people.
"When fundamental human rights and certain past traditions collide ... it is the traditions that must adapt and the human principles that must prevail," she said.
A British MEP who is also a Romanian children's advocate, Baroness Emma Nicholson, said: "I remain deeply concerned about the welfare of these two children. I am very concerned about reports that the police were apparently directing the traffic at the wedding and that there was a former minister in the church."