BRITONS PLEAD IGNORANCE OF LAW IN ROMANIAN CASE
THE SEATTLE TIMES
COUPLE ACCUSED OF TRYING TO SMUGGLE A BABY
Author: CAROL J. WILLIAMSLOS ANGELES TIMES
Dateline: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
THE PROSECUTION OF a British couple in a smuggling case is expected to have a chilling effect on the illegal adoptions again plaguing Romania after a 1991 crackdown on the black-market baby trade.
BUCHAREST, Romania - A British couple accused of trying to smuggle a Romanian baby out of this country after paying $6,000 to shady brokers to obtain her insisted on the first day of their trial yesterday they didn't realize they were violating any law.
Bernadette and Adrian Mooney of Wokingham, England, are the first foreigners from among tens of thousands who have sought to adopt Romanian children to be charged with criminal conduct and threatened with jail time.
No verdict is expected in the case for at least two weeks as a lawyer for one of five Romanians being tried simultaneously with the Mooneys won an adjournment to call another witness.
But the prosecution of the British couple is expected to have a chilling effect on the rash of illegal and questionable adoptions again plaguing Romania after a 1991 crackdown on the black market baby trade.
Madalina Buta, the senior of two judges who heard seven hours of testimony from the Mooneys and the Romanian defendants, read out an indictment accusing the couple of willfully arranging an illegal adoption of 5-month-old Monica Baiaram in July.the car's front seat, attempted to pass off the infant as a previously adopted 3-year-old listed on Mrs. Mooney's passport.
The Mooneys' claims of being unaware of official regulations appeared to be undermined by their having legally adopted another Romanian child in 1991.
Western diplomats speculate that baby-smuggling and illegal payments to local authorities are also on the rise, although no reliable estimates are available.
Testimony in the Mooney case indicated that border authorities had been tipped off to the couple's activity, likely by a rival gang of baby brokers. Buta, the judge, said police had the couple under surveillance on July 5 - the day they admit having paid $6,000 to Ioan Batrana.
Batrana, who admitted to having arranged four previous adoptions, is charged with preparing fake adoption forms and bribing two other defendants to locate a baby whose natural parents would be amenable to selling the child.
Monica Baiaram, now 7 months old, has been transferred to a Bucharest orphanage pending completion of the trial.
The underage natural parents, both 17, are charged with endangering the child and stand to lose parental rights. Batrana had admitted to taking the $6,000, of which less than $800 was paid to the parents.