The connection that the teenagers entered into was marriage-like, states the Helsingborg District Court, which is convicting the parents for child marriage offenses.
"It's not about a marriage that is valid either in Sweden or in Serbia, but about a marriage-like connection that means you are considered spouses in the group you belong to," says Judge Sofia Tollgerdt in a press release.
The parents have denied the crime. The prosecutor has, among other things, referred to films from the parties, both what is said in the films and how the participants were dressed.
You can see that the young couple is dressed in typical wedding clothes, and the girl has henna on her hands, which suggests that it's a religious wedding, prosecutor Ulrika Ekvall previously said to SVT News Helsingborg.
In assessing the sentence length, the court has taken into account that the parents have had to wait a long time for prosecution and trial in court.
The law on child marriage offenses came into force in 2020 and applies to marriages where at least one of the parties involved is under 18 years old.
