Israel’s top court halts return of Eitan Biran to Italy
JERUSALEM – A six-year-old boy, the sole survivor of an
Italian cable car disaster who was kidnapped and taken to Israel by his grandfather,
will remain in the country for the next seven days, Israel’s Supreme Court said
on Wednesday, as it reviews a request to appeal his return to Italy.
Eitan Biran’s maternal grandfather lost an appeal at a
district court on Thursday against a family court’s decision in October to send
the boy back to his paternal aunt in Italy in a cross-border custody battle.
The child had been living with the aunt since his parents,
younger brother and 11 other people died when a gondola plunged to the ground
in northern Italy in May.
In September, while visiting Eitan, his maternal
grandfather, without the aunt’s consent, drove him to Switzerland and chartered
a private jet onward to Israel.
The aunt petitioned the family court for his return to
Italy. The court found that the grandfather’s actions amounted to kidnapping
under the Hague Convention on the return of abducted children.
The grandfather’s lawyers have asked Israel’s top court to
hear another appeal.
On Wednesday, the court gave a Nov 23. deadline until the
sides hand in their arguments, after which it will issue its ruling on whether
yet another appeal may be filed. Until then, the court said, all proceedings in
the case were to be halted.
The aunt’s lawyers said in a statement that they had hoped
that the grandfather “would do the right thing and free Eitan to return home to
his regular life.” They said they were confidant the Supreme Court would uphold
the two previous rulings.
The grandfather and the aunt cannot be named due to Israeli
court restrictions.
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