Child abuse case exposes Czech sect

CZECH REPUBLIC:A bizarre tale of child abuse, obscure sects and a mysterious vanishing girl has shocked and transfixed the Czech Republic.

It began when a video monitor being used by parents to keep an eye on their child picked up a stray signal from a similar device being used in a nearby house, and showed an image of a small naked boy, lying tied up on the bare floor of a windowless room.

When police searched the area in the quiet southeastern town of Kurim, sisters Klara and Katerina Mauerova allegedly refused to open a locked door in their home. When firemen broke it down, they found Klara's eight-year-old son Ondrej bound with duct tape, badly dehydrated and watched over by the video camera that had revealed his plight.

Investigators believed Ondrej had been maltreated for at least six months, and he was taken into care along with his brother Jakub and a girl called Anna.

What was a troubling case of child abuse gripped the nation, however, when Anna disappeared from the children's home, sparking a major search.

Then came the revelation that "Anna" was probably not a 13-year-old girl, but a 34-year-old woman in disguise.

Police believe "Anna" was actually the diminutive Barbara Skrlova, a friend of the Mauerova sisters who, like them, belongs to a breakaway faction of the Grail Movement, an organisation inspired by the so-called Grail Message, written from 1923-1938 by German thinker Oskar Ernst Bernhardt.

"We broke with these people 11 years ago, after they gradually added to the Grail Message their own imaginings and fantasies," said Artur Zaplukal, chief representative of the Grail Movement in the Czech Republic, where it has about 1,500 followers.

"At that point there were about 15 of them, and I sent them a letter telling them they were no longer considered part of the Grail Movement."

Police have told Czech media that they now suspect Ms Skrlova was being groomed to become some kind of "idol" for worship by the sect.

Social workers say Ondrej and Jakub now appear to be fine. The search continues for Ms Skrlova.

Last week, Czech president Vaclav Klaus received a nine-page letter defending Ondrej's mother, from someone claiming to be "Anna".

"I have a feeling someone is playing a very strange game with us," said the bemused Mr Klaus.