Eitan Biran, the orphaned six-year-old Israeli boy who was the sole survivor of the Mottarone mountain cable-car disaster in Piedmont in May and was taken out of Italy by his maternal grandfather last month, must return to Italy, a Tel Aviv family court ruled Monday, according to legal sources.
The court said Eitan's habitual residence was in Italy, the sources said.
The paternal grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, is being probed in Italy for alleged aggravated kidnapping.
Eitan was reportedly driven across the border to Switzerland and flown to Tel Aviv with a private jet after being taken out by his grandfather during a visit.
Eitan's parents, great grandparents and two-year-old brother were among the 14 victims of the disaster.
Eitan, who moved to Italy with his parents in 2018, had been put into the care of his Italian-based paternal aunt, Aya Biran, after the disaster by the Italian authorities.
Aya Biran's family lawyers, Shmuel Moran and Avi Himi, said "while we welcome the sentence of Judge (Irsi) Ilutovich (Segal) with satisfaction we think that in this case there are now winners or losers. There is only Eitan and all we ask is that he should soon return to his home, to his friends in school, to his family, in particular for the therapy and educational framework he needs". Aya Biran expressed "great joy" at the sentence.
Aya Biran's civil lawyer Cristina Pagni said "I and my colleague Grazia Cesaro are happy with the favourable decision of the Tel Aviv court and with the fact that the principles and spirit of the Hague Convention have found application". She added: "We look forward to seeing when it will be possible for the child to return to Italy; perhaps we will know this evening".
Judge Segal ordered the paternal grandfather Peleg to pay court costs of 70,000 shekels, or over 18,000 euros. The sentence rejected Peleg's assertion that the aunt did not have legal guardianship over the boy. Judge Segal wrote "with the arrival in Israel the grandfather took the boy away from his normal living place. A removal contrary to the meaning of the Convention, and in so doing, he breached the guardianship rights of the boy's aunt."
The Peleg family's attorney, Gadi Solomon, said "the family is determined to continue the battle in every way possible in Eitan's interest, his wellbeing and his right to grow up in Israel as his parents wished," announcing an appeal against the sentence. He said the sentence only regarded Eitan's being removed form Italy and his arrival in Israel, "but not the boy's good and his future".
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