One such woman from Russia told newspaper Aftenposten over the weekend that she's among the relatively lucky ones. Local police intervened on her behalf, she's now living in a crisis center and has filed charges against her abusive, alcoholic Norwegian husband.
"He seemed so charming, I was happy and in love," she told Aftenposten. They met each other through friends and married after just two months.
Many of the foreign would-be brides, however, get paired with their Norwegian husbands through companies that Norwegian officials are beginning to equate with human traders. Some arrange for the women, most of whom are poor, to come to Norway on a three-month visitor's visa.
They hope for romance and marriage, and a chance to live a better life than they could in their home countries. Instead, many are subject to physical and sexual abuse, forced to live like domestic slaves and then cast aside by the men when the three months is up.
Some of the men are what officials call "serial importers," who then immediately arrange for a new woman to be sent him by the bureau.
Many of those who do get married are made to live in fear that they'll be deported before the three years it takes to receive permanent residence permission in Norway. They then put up with the abuse, thinking they have no alternative.
A legal expert told Aftenposten that import of brides or brides-to-be can violate laws against trade in humans, and result in prison terms long by Norwegian standards.
"If a person is tricked or persuaded to go along with something they otherwise wouldn't, a court could determine that she has been led astray," said Ulf Stridbeck, a professor in criminal law at the University of Oslo. "The law isn't only meant to prevent women from being forced into prostitution, but applies to everyone tricked into a forced situation."
