The Elise André incident is a tug-of-war of kidnappings of the three-year-old girl Elise André-Belenkaya (Russian: Элиза Андре Беленькая) in a dispute between her parents, father Jean-Michel André and mother Ирина Беленькая, over child custody during 2007–2009. The girl was abducted and moved across the border at least three times since parents' divorce in 2007.
Both parents were granted custody rights from their own countries. In 2009 there were about 50 child custody disputes between Russia and France. The case of Elise is aggravated by the fact that Russia is not a signatory of the 1980 Hague convention on civil aspects of child abduction, used to resolve similar cases.
The last kidnapping (by mother) was stopped in Nyíregyháza, Hungary in April 2009 and in May the Hungarian court decided that the mother be extradited to France
In 2012 the mother was facing a three-year suspended sentence from a French court in Tarascon for double abduction, in November 2007 and in March 2009. Mother's lawyer asked for a suspended sentence. Eventually she received two years of sentence suspended for five years. The Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs concluded that the decision of the French court had been balanced.
References
- Ярослав ГОРБАНЕВСКИЙ, "Родители, будьте людьми! возьмите себя в руки!" Archived 2024-05-31 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lizzy Davies, Snatched toddler returns to France with father, The Guardian, 14 Apr 2009
- ^ French Prosecutor Requests 3-Year Suspended Sentence for Russian Mother, The Moscow Times, October 30, 2012 (Original url Archived 2024-05-31 at the Wayback Machine)
- "Hungarian court orders Elise's mother to be extradited to France". 6 May 2009. Archived from the original on 2024-05-31. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
- "Французский прокурор потребовал три года условно для Ирины Беленькой". 30 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2024-05-31. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
- "Адвокат Ирины Беленькой просит суд вынести ей условный приговор". 30 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
- "Ирина Беленькая получила два года условно". 30 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2024-05-31. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
- Comment of Information and Press Department of MFA of Russia in view of French court's decision concerning Irina Belenkaya, November 2, 2012