Couple stand by forbidden loveBBC News
At their home in Leipzig, Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski are in the kitchen, playing with a young toddler. [div class="bo"] They share a small flat in an east German tower block on the outskirts of the city. It looks like an ordinary family scene, but Patrick is Susan's brother and they are lovers.[/p]"Many people see it as a crime, but we've done nothing wrong," said Patrick, an unemployed locksmith. [/p] "We are like normal lovers. We want to have a family. Our whole family broke apart when we were younger, and after that happened, Susan and I were brought closer together," he said.[/p]Patrick, who is 30 years old, was adopted and, as a child, he lived in Potsdam.
[/p]He did not meet his mother and biological family until he was 23. He travelled to Leipzig with a friend in 2000, determined to make contact with his other relatives.
[/p][/div][div class="ibox"]
"This law is out of date and it breaches the couple's civil rights"[!--Emva--][!--Smva--][!--Emva--] -Lawyer Endrik Wilhelm [/div]
[div class="bo"]He met his sister Susan for the first time, and according to the couple, after their mother died, they fell in love. "When I was younger, I didn't know that I had a brother. I met Patrick and I was so surprised," said Susan, who is 22.
She says she does not feel guilty about their relationship.
"I hope this law will be overturned," Susan said. [/p] "I just want to live with my family, and be left alone by the authorities and by the courts," she went on, in a hardly audible voice. [/p]
Jail sentence Patrick and Susan have been living together for the last six years, and they now have four children.
The authorities placed their first son, Eric, in the care of a foster family, and two other children were also placed in care. [/p] "Our children are with foster parents. We talk to them as often as possible, but the authorities have taken away so much from us," said Susan.
"We only have our little daughter, Sofia, who is living with us," she said. [/p]Incest is a criminal offence in Germany. Patrick Stuebing has already served a two-year sentence for committing incest and there is another jail term looming if paragraph 173 of the legal code is not overturned. [/p][/div][div class="bo"] The couple's lawyer, Endrik Wilhelm, has lodged an appeal with Germany's highest judicial body, the federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, in order to overturn the country's ban on incest. [/p] "Under Germany's criminal code, which dates back to 1871, it is a crime for close relatives to have sex and it's punishable by up to three years in prison. This law is out of date and it breaches the couple's civil rights," Dr Wilhelm said. [/p] "Why are disabled parents allowed to have children, or people with hereditary diseases or women over 40? No-one says that is a crime. [/p] "This couple are not harming anyone. It is discrimination. And besides, we must not forget that every child is so valuable," said Dr Wilhelm. [/p][/div][div class="ibox"]
"We would like society to recognise us, as any other normal couple"[!--Emva--][!--Smva--][!--Emva--]- Patrick Stuebing
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Full Story from BBC NEWS:[br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 191);"][a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 191);" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6424937.stm"] http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6424937.stm[/a]
Patrick and Susan did not know each other as children
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Interview with couple[/a][a onclick="jvascript:newsi.utils.av.launch((storyId:6421839, fileLoc: '/player/nol/newsid_6420000/newsid_6421800/', nbram: 1,bbwm: 1,bbram: 1,nbwm: 1));return false;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6420000/newsid_6421800?redirect=6421839.stm&news=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1"] [/a] [/div]
