Russian ‘kidnap’ mother gets two-year sentence in France

A French court on Tuesday slapped a two-year suspended sentence on a Russian woman who kidnapped her seven-year-old daughter from the girl's French father in 2009.

Irina Belenkaya was convicted on two counts of kidnapping and assault against the girl's father Jean-Michel Andre, who has custody of the child.

A court in the southwestern town of Tarascon ordered Belenkaya to pay 8,000 euros ($10,000) in damages. Andre had sought 63,000 euros.

The girl Elise was abducted on March 20, 2009 by Belenkaya and two men in the southern French city of Arles, where she lived with her father. Andre was badly beaten during the kidnapping.

Belenkaya tried to take her daughter back to Russia but was extradited from Hungary where she was detained on a European arrest warrant while trying to cross over to Ukraine on April 12, 2009.

A Hungarian court later ordered her sent back to France.

That was the second time that Belenkaya had kidnapped her daughter from Andre since their divorce in 2007.

In the first kidnapping in 2007, she managed to take her daughter to Moscow.

In January 2008, French authorities issued an arrest warrant against her but a few months later Andre took matters into his own hands and went to Moscow to collect his daughter.

Andre appeared unsettled in court on Tuesday, and represented himself because he said he did not have money to hire an attorney.

His request for a closed hearing to “protect his daughter” was however denied because prosecutors said in earlier stages the father had played a role in creating the media frenzy surrounding the bitter custody battle.

“Elise is now seven years old, and much more exposed than when she was three,” Andre said.

The mother's lawyer, Bruno Rebstock, emphasized the pain she suffered from being separated from her daughter.

“Motherhood is not something to rationalize,” Rebstock said.

Looking very thin, Belenkaya said in court that she went to Arles in 2009 with the sole intention of seeing her daughter.

“I didn't want to hurt Mr. Andre,” she said, adding that she still didn't understand “how that evening happened.”

Belenkaya said she met her two accomplices by chance, and asked them to accompany her so she would not have to face her ex-husband alone. The men were of Russian origin, but never identified.

“It's difficult to believe these actions weren't premeditated” the judge said, emphasizing that Belenkaya took a hotel room for the two men and the fact she wore a wig during the incident.

On several occasions the court had to remind those present that it was there to address the kidnappings and assault, and “not to psychoanalyze the couple.”

“This case is an example of a childhood sacrificed on the altar of adult selfishness,” said prosecutor Christian Pasta, who had asked for a three-year suspended sentence.

As he left the trial Andre called the verdict “an important step because the facts were recognized.”

Belenkaya meanwhile said: “We will continue our fight to have Mr. Andre undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

“And for Elise to be able to spend vacations in Russia. I want her to have both cultures, Russian and French.” (AFP)

<관련 한글 기사>

자기자식 납치한 엄마, 어떤 사연이길래?

프랑스에서 한 여성이 전남편으로부터 자신의 딸을 납치해갔다가 철창신세를 지게 되었다고 AFP통신이 보도했다.

타라스콩 시 법원은 30일 (현지시간) 딸의 납치와 전남편 장-마이클 앙드레에 대한 폭행 혐의로 이리네 벨렌카야에게 2년의 징역형을 선고했다. 법원은 또한 그녀가 앙드레에게 보상금 8천 유로 (한화 약 1천1백3십만원)을 지불할 것으로 선고했다.

벨렌카야는 지난 2009년 3월20일, 두 남자를 대동한 후 자신과 전남편 사이에서 난 딸 엘리제를 납치했다. 앙드레는 이 과정에서 심한 폭행을 당했다.

벨렌카야는 모국 러시아로 딸을 데리고 가려고 했으나 같은 해 4월 12일에 우크라이나로 가려다 체포되어 결국 프랑스로 보내졌다.

벨렌카야가 엘리제를 납치한 것은 이번이 처음이 아니었다. 그녀는 앙드레와 2007년 이혼했는데, 같은 해에 딸을 모스크바로 데려간 적이 있다.

프랑스 당국은 이듬해 2월에 벨렌카야에 대한 체포영장을 발부했으나, 앙드레는 이를 기다리지 않고 직접 모스크바로 찾아가 엘리제를 데려왔다.

그가 딸의 사생활 보호를 위해 재판이 비공개로 진행되길 원했으나, 검사들은 이 사건이 언론의 열광적 관심을 끌게 된 데에 앙드레의 역할이 크다고 보고 이를 허락하지 않았다고 한다.


“엘리제는 이제 막 7살인데, 3살일 때보다 훨씬 더 노출되어 있습니다”라고 그는 말했다.

벨렌카야의 변호인 브루노 렙스톡은 자신의 의뢰인이 겪은 고통을 강조하며 “모성애는 합리화될 수 있는 것이 아니다”라며 그녀의 행동을 변호했다.

벨렌카는 납치 사건 당시 딸을 보고 싶은 마음뿐이었다며 “앙드레를 헤칠 마음은 없었다”고 주장하며 폭행사건이 어떻게 일어났는지 이해가 안 간다고 말했다.

그녀는 자신의 공범들을 우연히 만났을 뿐이며 전남편과 혼자 만나지 않기 위해 그들을 대동했다고 설명했다. 상세한 신원이 공개되지 않은 이 남자들은 러시아계로 알려졌다.

그러나 판사는 폭행을 포함한 행동이 사전에 계획되지 않았다고 보기는 힘들다며 벨렌카야가 당시 두 남자를 위해 호텔방을 잡았고 그녀가 사건 당시 가발을 썼다는 점을 지적했다.

재판이 끝나자 앙드레는 “진실이 인정되었다”라고 한 반면, 벨렌카야는 자신의 전남편에게 정신감정을 받게 하려는 노력과 엘리제에게 러시아에서 휴가를 보내게 하려는 노력을 계속할 것이라고 강조했다. (코리아헤럴드)