The mother of the German teenager who was held captive by a Bosnian couple was detained Tuesday for assaulting a journalist who broke the story on the captivity, a local newspaper reported.

The victim's mother, Christine Siegner, "physically assaulted" journalist Majda Vildic in front of the local court in northeastern town Kalesija, where a trial against the Bosnian couple, the daily Dnevni Avaz reported in its online edition.

Police detained the woman and the trial was postponed to an unspecified date, the daily said.

In June, Bosnian prosecutors charged a local couple, Milenko and Slavojka Marinkovic, with holding captive Bettina Siegner, now 19, for more than six years.

They were charged for illegally detaining the girl "in a cruel way ... inflicting her injuries, treating her in an inhuman way, exposing her to starvation and forcing her to do hard agriculture labor," the prosecution said at the time.

The teenager was rescued by police in May in the village of Karavlasi, in Tuzla region, where she had been held captive since late 2005, according to prosecutors. The couple was arrested and the girl was placed in a safe house.

When the teenager was found in a forest near the house where she was held, she had traces of old and fresh injuries on her body.

The victim's mother left her in 2005 when she was 12 with the Marinkovic couple, whom she met in Germany where the couple had fled during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

According to Marinkovic's family members, Christine Siegner is Milenko's second wife, which they said was not unusual within Roma communities.

The Marinkovic family and Christine Siegner have denied all accusations.

If found guilty the couple, who have been detained since police rescued the young woman, face between two and eight years in jail. (AFP)

<관련 한글 기사>

10대 소녀, 6년간 비참하게 '노예'로 살아...

보스니아의 한 부부에 의해 비참하게 학대당하다가 구출된 독일인 소녀 베티나 시그너 (19)의 어머니가 이 사건을 폭로한 기자를 폭행했다가 구속되었다.

AFP통신이 보도한 바에 따르면 크리스틴 시그너는 보스티아 칼레스이자 법정 앞에서 마즈다 빌디치라는 기자를 구타한 혐의로 28일(현지시간) 구금되었다고 한다. 당시 법정에서는 소녀를 학대했던 밀렌코 마린코비치와 그의 아내 슬라보즈카가 재판을 받고 있었다.

이 충격적인 사건은 지난 5월, 현지 경찰이 이웃의 제보를 받고 마린코비치 부부의 집을 습격해 베티나를 구출해내면서 밝혀졌다. 그녀는 6년넘게 이 부부의 집에 갇혀 돼지먹이를 먹고, 마차를 끌고 고된 노동을 하도록 강요되는 등 끔찍한 대우를 받았다.

크리스틴 시그너는 아이가 12살이던 2005년에 독일에서 만나 알게된 마린코비치 부부에게 그녀를 맡겼는데, 그들의 친척들은 시그너가 밀렌코의 두번째 아내라고 주장했다. 

한편 마린코비치 부부와 시그너는 모든 혐의를 부인한 것으로 알려졌다.



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