Complaint by Malians adopted in France for "swindle" and "breach of trust"

Text by: RFI Follow

Nine French people, adopted as children in Mali and now adults, have filed complaints in Paris for "swindling" and "breach of trust" against an association and one of its ex-officials. They believe that the conditions for their adoption were fraudulent. The affair was revealed by the French media Le Monde and TV5 Monde.

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The facts date back to the early 1990s. These nine French, born in Mali, accuse the association Le Rayon de soleil of the foreign child to have duped their biological parents as well as adoptive.

According to their lawyer, the NGO would have suggested to the adoptive parents and to French justice that the biological parents agreed to abandon their children.

In fact, the Malian justice system would only have authorized temporary adoption. This is a provision in force in Malian law. It is called "Adoption-protection".

Certain Malian families, often of modest origin, then thought of entrusting their offspring to French families, for a few months or a few years, the time of their studies for example. But all contact was finally broken.

Other children would have simply presented as abandoned to the Malian justice, which then declared their full adoption. The association in question had already been the subject of suspicion in the 1990s. Malian media had mentioned them. Today, on its website, the NGO refutes any participation in human trafficking and claims to be at the disposal of the justice system.

Counsel for the complainants believes that other alleged victims may soon come forward.

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