From the cycle: ???????This can happen only in Romania???????? (and I????????m sure in the third world countries, but in theory Romania is not a part of that lot). I have wanted to share with you the story of Ion Dumitru, father of 7 children who has been kept in jail for 866 days, by mistake. He told the police men that he is not guilty, and after being jailed he wrote dozens of letters to the authorities claiming his innocence. His bad luck was the high resemblance with his (evil) brother Gheorghe. Apparently Gheorghe has been convicted in few dossiers, and managed to escape the law.

Ion Dumitru repeatedly told the prison guardians his story, and asked them to verify it. At his insistences, one of the guardians was ???????kind??????? enough to actually verify the fingerprints, and was ???????surprised??????? to find out that the poor man was right all along. Dumitru was released and the state apologized for its mistake. After a while, the man was again taken into police custody and sent to the same prison, but to a different cell. This time, too the authorities admitted that they have arrested and jailed him, because they have thought it is his brother. Now, the man is asking the state to pay for its mistakes. The Iasi tribunal decided that the state should at least give the man some financial compensation, for all the misery it created. Surprisingly (for those living outside Romania, and less surprising for the Romanians) the state response was that it would not respect the final decision of the court, because it is too poor!! (what a strange thing, to say the least – the state refuses to obey the laws it itself was presumably founded upon) The result is that the Romanian state will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights from Strasbourg.

Those who know Romanian can read the article here

Still in the human rights realm, a journalist from The Sun (English tabloid) wrote how he bought a woman slave from the center of Bucharest (for those who are not familiar with Romania, Bucharest is its capital) for $800. The first words of the woman were: ???????I know that you are my new owner. You do not have to beat me, I wont make you any problems.???????

Now, how can that happen in a capital of a democratic country in the 21st century?? Moreover, this guy was supposed to take the woman with him to the UK. How in the world would he get her out of the country without anyone suspecting that something is not right??! It is unfortunate and sad, yet true that some Romanian, as well as other Eastern European girls, are victims of the inhumane market for prostitution and slavery. I suppose there are many causes than can lead to this end, but few seem more obvious to me: poverty, lack of education, an underdeveloped, shaky system (not enough shelters, or other types of institutions for abused girls, women, etc.) and ignorance.