Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said on Tuesday that eight Croatians detained in Zambia on charges of attempted child trafficking did not ask for help in collecting bail for their release.

Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Luiz Iecker Vieira in Zagreb, Grlic-Radman said that Croatian diplomatic and consular missions can grant financial resources to Croatian citizens if they currently do not have money for a return ticket, travel document in case of lost passport, and the like, provided that they guarantee they will repay that money.

“Here, no one asked us for bail money,” Grlic-Radman answered when asked whether the Croatians detained in Zambia had made such a request.

“If they were to request food or necessities, that should be provided for them. That is the minimum we can do. The most important thing is that the consular service is taking care of their status as prisoners and making sure that their trial will be fair,” the minister added.

The eight Croatians detained in Zambia on suspicion of human trafficking will be released on bail once they meet the necessary conditions, the court in Ndola decided on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs confirmed to the Croatian state news agency Hina.

Those four couples from Croatia were arrested in early December in Zambia when they arrived in Africa to take over the four children they had adopted in DR Congo.

After the court dropped the first indictment and ordered them to leave the country, they were re-arrested at the airport last week as Zambia’s immigration office filed a new indictment. The news is that this time an indictment was also brought against an immigration officer at Ndola airport.

At a new hearing in Ndola, Judge Jene Bwala ruled today that they can be released on bail pending trial once they meet the set conditions, surrender their passports, post bail and prove that they have a regulated residence.