They forced their children to pray around the clock and didn't send them to school. Five women were arrested by the carabinieri in South Tyrol, they were part of a Swiss sect called "Neu Christen" (New Christians).

The sect refers to a Swiss character, Nikolaus Schneider, who defines himself as "Schwert Bischof", in German "bishop of the sword".

The women arrested are accused of mistreatment and harassment for having forced the two children of one of them, under 14, to pray and to undergo other rites, also preventing them from going to school. The three women, all from the Campo Tures area, are related to each other. In particular, it is a mother, daughter and aunt. They are currently being held in the women's section of the Trento prison, where they will be interrogated in the next few days.

The other two women ended up in handcuffs are a "priestess" of the sect and her daughter.

The investigation would have been triggered by a report from which the carabinieri were able to ascertain the harassment - only psychological and not physical - to which the two children were subjected. In particular, they would have been forced to pray almost continuously, even during the night.

(Unioneonline / L)