Court intervenes to remove minors from ‘Amish’ family living in tunnel
The underage children in a family that describes itself as an “early Christian community, similar to America’s Amish” and lives in a makeshift dwelling without rudimentary facilities in the northeast Peloponnese, have been taken into state care following the intervention of a prosecutor.
The prosecutor ordered that the minors, who have been absent from school for four years, be relocated to a safe environment. Additionally, an investigation into the family’s living conditions, described in local reports as “primitive,” was requested.
The seven-member family reportedly resided without access to electricity or running water in a shack with a 30-meter tunnel running beneath it, near the village of Manna in the Corinthia region.
Photographs and videos from the residence surfaced last week following a police operation that led to the arrest of the father, mother and two older children.
A search conducted inside the tunnel by special police forces also uncovered a shotgun, a military-grade rifle, 102 rounds of ammunition, two improvised firearms, seven makeshift bows, 20 arrows, two axes, two shell magazines, and 19 shotgun shells.
