In Slovakia’s Hungarian-inhabited villages, the police cracked down on fake marriage brokers, reports Blikk. The mayor of Tardoskedd in the highlands, Marián Tóth, informed the police that foreigners can prepare for a fake marriage at the local registry office. They wanted to force a young, pregnant woman belonging to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia to marry so that her husband could become an EU citizen.
I reported the case to the authorities because it was very suspicious. The young mother was taken in by the settlement a few months ago, she didn’t have anyone, she grew up as an orphan, and because of her vulnerable situation, she was allowed to be scouted. The investigation is still ongoing, but as far as I know, the woman would not have received any money, and the benefits would have been shared by the brokers of the fake marriage. The expectant mother was taken to safety with the help of the police so that she would not be intimidated or forced to retract her statement
– the head of the settlement told Blikk.
At the beginning of March, the Slovak police prevented the fake marriage of a 28-year-old migrant living in Austria and a 22-year-old local woman in Vágselly. The deal was organized by a 54-year-old Turkish man, who had arranged a bride for the buyer in Udvard before, but there the macaw changed his mind and ran away from the marriage hall.
According to the Blikk article, the Slovak police accused the mediators and prospective husbands not only of sham marriages but also of human trafficking, who could face up to 12 years in prison.
