NewsMissing eleven-year-olds: police check connection to sect

Missing eleven-year-olds: police check connection to sect

In the past, the sect “Twelve Tribes” made headlines again and again because they propagated flogging for children. Now she could be dealing with the disappearance of a child.

Holzheim – After the disappearance of an eleven-year-old girl in Swabia, there are indications that the child is in the environment of the controversial sect “Twelve Tribes”.

The police headquarters in Augsburg reported on Monday that the schoolgirl’s foster father received an email from a sender who was allegedly assigned to the sect. “We’re going to investigate,” said a police spokesman.

According to the investigators, it still has to be checked whether the mail is authentic. Several media outlets had previously reported on the email. Accordingly, the eleven-year-old should now stay with her birth parents again.

Already at the weekend there was speculation that the parents assigned to the “Twelve Tribes” might have something to do with the child’s disappearance. The sect, which has been settled in the Czech Republic for a number of years, has hit the headlines again and again in the past because it sees beating children as an appropriate education method.

“Since it cannot be ruled out that the girl’s birth parents are linked to the disappearance, the Dillingen criminal investigation department has already started investigations,” the police reported on the weekend. The child disappeared while jogging in Holzheim on Saturday and never returned home to her foster family. Around 100 emergency services then looked for the child in the area.

The police now also wanted to check whether the eleven-year-old is in one of the two sect communities in the Czech Republic. However, details of the previous measures and findings were not disclosed. “We are investigating in all directions,” said the police spokesman. Even a crime or a misfortune will still not be ruled out.

The police headquarters in Cheb (Eger) announced on Monday that the German colleagues had asked to cooperate in the search for the eleven-year-old. On this basis, a possible whereabouts of the girl was checked in the town of Skalna in the administrative region of Karlovy Vary. “The police found on the spot that the missing girl is not there.” One of the two communities of the “Twelve Tribes” is located in Skalna.

The “Twelve Tribes” used to be settled in the north Swabian monastery rooms near Deiningen and in Wörnitz in Central Franconia. In September 2013, the authorities took 40 boys and girls out of the community because of the beating allegations and placed them with foster families and in homes.

According to the Dillingen District Office, the girl who has now disappeared was one of these children. It has been with the current foster parents for eight years, said a spokesman for the district authority. The biological parents had “irregular contact” with the child during this time.

The action taken by the authorities against the sect in 2013 led to litigation that lasted for years. On the one hand, there were several criminal proceedings – one educator of the sect was even sentenced to prison without parole. On the other hand, biological parents took action against the withdrawal of custody. However, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2018 that the decisions of the German family courts were admissible.

The “Twelve Tribes” were relocated to the Czech Republic because of the German authorities’ actions. In Bavaria, the sect was also prohibited from running its own private school for the children. dpa

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