📌  On February 1, 2023, a resident of Moscow turned to us for legal and other assistance — it was necessary to locate and return to the Russian Federation her young daughter (3.5 y.o.), about whose fate, since October 2022, she (the client) knew nothing…

On October 14, 2022, the ex-husband of the client, by deception and abuse of trust, had taken their common daughter and did not return her at the appointed time. After some time the man contacted our client, explained that he decided to go on vacation with the child to Turkey… Since that time, the mother lost touch with her child. For the period from October 2022 to March 2023 she received only a few photos of the child.

At the time of contacting us, the client believed that her ex-husband and daughter were in Turkey, however, almost immediately (after sending official requests and letters, analyzing the documents received, etc.) it turned out that on December 5, 2022, her daughter illegally crossed the United States-Mexico southern border. From that moment she was in the territory of the United States 🇺🇸.

From the official correspondence, it was also established that the child was first moved to the Republic of Belarus, then to Turkey, Mexico and then to the United States.
During the complex of search activities, it was found that the child and her father lived in a migrant shelter located in the central part of Manhattan, New York City…

In addition, during the search activities, we also performed all the necessary actions that allowed us to include the child in the Interpol list for missing persons (“yellow notice”).

On March 21, 2023, lawyer Artur Kuznetsov arrived in New York City, US, where, on the basis of an existing power of attorney, he filed the necessary petition to the Manhattan Civil Court. The petition on the domestication of the judgment and the returning of the child to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation to the client, issued by the Russian judicial authority.

For local representation of the mother’s interests in the appointed court hearing, using business contacts, we selected an experienced attorney and a former New York State Senator, who has the necessary licenses in New York City- David Storobin…

The first court hearing was scheduled for March 30, 2023. During this hearing Judge Hasa A. Kingo instruct to notify the father about holding the main court hearing on April 03, 2023…

On April 3, 2023, the main court hearing was held, at which all the parties to the case were present … the hearing of parties’ arguments took place.

After hearing the parties to the case, Judge Hasa A. Kingo ordred that the father must transfer the child to lawyer A. Kuznetsov until 3 p.m., in case of non-compliance with this order, it was explained to the father that his arrest would follow.

April 3, 2023 at 3 p.m. lawyer A. Kuznetsov, on a judge’s order, seized the child from the father at the Time Square shelter (Manhattan, New York City). In order not to cause psychological trauma to the child, it was decided that the father could proceed to the address of lawyer A. Kuznetsov and stay with the child for a while.

On April 4, 2023, the final court hearing was held, at which lawyer A. Kuznetsov explained that the judge’s order for the removal of the child was executed in full and air tickets on the route New York — Istanbul – Moscow ✈were purchased

Judge Hasa A. Kingo issued a final decision with an Instruction to lawyer A. Kuznetsov to return the child transferred to him (A. Kuznetsov) under the provisional guardianship to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, the city of Moscow, to the mother.

On April 5, 2023, when passing border control on the territory of the Russian Federation (Vnukovo Airport, Moscow), lawyer A. Kuznetsov and the child were detained by border guard officers, due to the fact that the child was still in the Interpol list for missing persons (“yellow notice”). However, due to the fact that we had contacts of the investigator of the IC of the Russian Federation (in the production of whom was a criminal case on the abduction of a child) and Interpol officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the child was transfered to the mother (our client) as soon as practicable .

Information about the transfer of the child was sent to the Civil Court of New York City, USA, in order to properly notify the execution of the decision of Judge Hasa A. Kingo issued on April 4, 2023.

P.S. It is worth noting that this result was achieved by our team in the absence of “direct” international legal mechanisms between the Russian Federation and the United States on this issue, which are based on the ratification of the texts of various conventions on the rights of the children around the world (the main is The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which still has not been ratified between the Russian Federation and 🇺🇸), as well as in the context of current geopolitical tensions.

We told you more about this story and the “mechanisms” for the return of “abducted” children from the territory of a foreign state (foreign jurisdiction) earlier in our Telegram channel