Quote:
Couple stand by forbidden love
At their home in Leipzig, Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski are in the kitchen, playing with a young toddler.
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.
"Many people see it as a crime, but we've done nothing wrong," said Patrick, an unemployed locksmith.
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.
"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.
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.
"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 This law is out of date and it breaches the couple's civil rights," Dr Wilhelm said.
"Why are disabled parents allowed to have children, or people with hereditary diseases or women over 40? No-one says that is a crime.
At their home in Leipzig, Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski are in the kitchen, playing with a young toddler.
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.
"Many people see it as a crime, but we've done nothing wrong," said Patrick, an unemployed locksmith.
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.
"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.
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.
"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.
"Why are disabled parents allowed to have children, or people with hereditary diseases or women over 40? No-one says that is a crime.
[:gobsmacked:]
Only in Germany, Florida, and wherever Katie is from. 
