Before he tried to sell his fifteen-year-old daughter to a family from Germany for 9.000 euros, Beranac MI (41) withdrew the girl from school and informed the educational institution that she no longer wanted to attend classes.
Almost simultaneously, he certified the consent that the minor could travel outside the borders of Montenegro and reside abroad with EZ - the father of the young man to whom they planned to marry her.
This emerges from prosecutorial and court files that "Vijesti" has had access to, which relate to a recently prevented human trafficking case.
The father of fifteen-year-old Beranka was arrested on April 18, and the Police Directorate announced at the time that their officers took urgent measures and actions, preventing the trafficking of the minor "and her removal from Montenegro for the purpose of entering into an illegal arranged marriage."
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The suspect denied his guilt before the prosecutor, claiming that he only intended to walk with his family to Sarajevo, but the minor's testimony completely refuted his defense.
She told police inspectors that her father took a certain amount of money from a family in Germany, and then set out to hand it over, in order to "honor the agreement."
She also told them that the guy they wanted her to marry had come to them with his father and mother and that her father had taken the money during that agreement.
"I don't know EZ, but they told me he was the father of my future husband," she told the police.
The sale of the girl was prevented on April 18, when the police arrested her father.
After his arrest and questioning, Beranc MI was ordered to be detained, and his defense attorney appealed the decision of the investigating judge, requesting that the detention be replaced with a more lenient measure, which the panel of the Bijelo Polje High Court rejected.
Court documents state that he is reasonably suspected of having sold his child for an unspecified amount of money on April 15th, abusing his minor daughter's dependence on him as a parent:
"For the purpose of entering into an illicit marriage with JZ from Germany."
Three days later, he set off with her to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order, prosecutors claim, to hand her over to her future father-in-law.
At the hearing at the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje, he denied guilt, stating that he "did not sell his underage daughter to marry a guy from Germany."
He claimed that he knew that she was in contact with a guy from Germany, whose name he did not know, but that he knew that his daughter "did not want to marry him until she was of age."
"With the exception of allowing her to have contact with that guy."
He also told the prosecutor that his daughter gave him the phone number of her boyfriend's father, whom he called only to check "if it was his child, which he confirmed."
He also states that EZ told him at the time that their children should talk about what they intended to do with their lives in the future and decide whether they wanted to be together.
Explaining where the traditional bridal costume in the vehicle came from, MI claimed to the prosecution that they were supposed to take it to his older daughter, who allegedly lives in Germany and is soon to marry a guy whose name he did not know how to tell the prosecutor.
Citing his testimony to the prosecution, the judges wrote in the decision confirming his detention that he defended himself by saying that he and his family left for Sarajevo on April 18th, and that they were considering continuing on to Germany from there if they had enough money.
He also claimed that they were not planning a bachelorette party for his fifteen-year-old daughter, and that he only planned to allow her to stay abroad for a few days, and that he signed the travel consent so that she could travel and stay outside the borders of Montenegro with the EU.
"The personal information entered in the consent was given to him by E. via WhatsApp. They agreed on this in phone conversations, as well as that E. would stay with them if she wanted, and if she didn't want, she would return with them," he told the prosecutor.
He could flee or influence witnesses.
Forty-one-year-old Beranac was remanded in custody due to the risk that he could flee, but also influence witnesses, primarily his minor daughter.
"The conclusion of the investigating judge that there are grave circumstances of the offense in question is correct, that is, the offense is particularly grave due to the manner of commission, because the defendant sold his child for a certain amount of money, as is reasonably suspected, in order to conclude a marriage abroad, that is, he committed the offense against his child, whose psychophysical condition and development he, as a parent, is particularly obliged to take care of, is that the aforementioned circumstances in their entirety justify the determination of detention against the defendant IM also on this detention basis," assessed the panel of the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje, explaining why detention on the detention basis from paragraph 4 is also justified.
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