Man arrested for selling daughters into wedlock

(ANSA) - Rome, September 23 - A man has been arrested by Pisa police for allegedly holding captive and beating two of his daughters and trying to force them to marry men he was selling them to, sources said on Monday. The man, a 45-year-old Bosnian of Roma ethnicity, had allegedly sold his 21-year-old daughter to a cousin for 12,000 euros.
    He was also allegedly trying to sell his 19-year-old daughter to another cousin but was unable to complete the operation after she ran away from the Roma camp the family lived in with her sister. The women are said have run away with their chosen boyfriends too.
    Before they got away the had father allegedly locked them up and beaten them to deter them from going out with their chosen boyfriends, instead of the men he had arranged for them to marry.
    The probe was sparked by the father filing a complaint reporting them missing.
    The operation marks the first time the authorities have made use of a new law giving 'red-rating' priority status to alleged crimes against women, such as abuse, rape, persecution forced marriage and aggravated domestic violence, with cases taken directly to prosecutors within days.
    The law was brought in following a spate of shocking femicides - cases in which women are murdered, usually by their current or former partners - in Italy in recent years.