A French court has sentenced ten Bulgarians to up to six years in prison for having sold babies to French Gypsy families.

The families, most of which of Roma origin, admitted to buying 23 babies for between EUR 2,500 and EUR 8,000, saying they had done it because they could not have children of their own or because they thought the children would have a better life in France.

The court sentenced the ten Bulgarians, most of them members of the same Roma gypsy family, to prison sentences ranging from two to six years for "trade in human beings". It reissued international arrest warrants for seven who are at large.

The accused purchased the children of Bulgarian mothers, who were in need of money, and presented themselves as their own biological parents.

The court heard 41 parents, 11 intermediaries, two biological mothers and two people, suspected in pimping. The French intermediaries looked for pregnant Bulgarian girls - single mothers and prostitutes, most of them of Roma origin. The pregnant women were offered to give birth in France and leave their babies there for.

The Bulgarian mothers have not claimed their children back. Except from two babies, who have been taken in charge by French social services, all children stayed with their French families and lived in good conditions, according to justice reports.

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