After the Federal Court recently dismissed the father's lawsuit with an incomprehensible justification (see here), the sad story now enters its next phase.
Reports from Tele M1 on August 14, 2010 and August 16, 2010 , as well as "10 vor 10" on August 30, 2010.
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When children are handed over to their mothers under police supervision
Everyone was concerned about the children: the mother, the father, the judges. But now the custody battle for Jan (4) and Martin (7) has escalated. Yesterday morning, four police officers arrived at the apartment of their father, Jürgen P., in Berikon with a search warrant and arrested him. They didn't find the children there. They were spending the night with their grandparents. The mother filed a complaint against Jürgen P. for allegedly withholding her children. That's her perspective. The father and his lawyer, Patrizia Jucker, see things differently: "The children don't want to go to their mother," says the lawyer. The boys spent their summer vacation with their father before starting a new life in the Czech Republic, their mother's home country. In June, after a lengthy legal battle, federal judges granted her custody of the children, upholding the ruling of the Bremgarten District Court in Aargau. Now the 37-year-old wants to finally leave, to return to the Czech Republic. There, the father would be allowed to visit the boys every other weekend. When the mother moved out of the apartment, she took the children with her. The 44-year-old IT specialist saw his sons as often as he could. "They are very attached to him," says a family friend who introduced the Czech woman to the Swiss man ten years ago. Refusal to hand over the children The father, in turn, demanded custody of the boys. Moving to a foreign country would not be good for the children, he argued. This argument was unsuccessful. Later, he fought to ensure that he didn't have to travel to the Czech Republic to see his children, but rather that the mother could bring them to Switzerland once a month. This request was also denied. When the mother arrived at the former family apartment in Berikon last Friday to pick up the children, she was accompanied by Berikon's town clerk, Michelle Meier, and two police officers. Jürgen P.'s lawyer was also present. "P. didn't refuse to hand over the children," she says. She observed the mother, who speaks Czech with her children, take the younger child's hand and try to leave the apartment with him. The four-year-old, however, clung to his father's leg with his other hand and screamed. Afterward, the town clerk and the mother briefly conferred and left without the children, says Jucker. The children could stay with their father, they were told. For a week, Jürgen P. heard nothing from his wife, who has since filed for divorce. Then yesterday, the police arrived and arrested him. The judge is said to be biased Following the incident in the apartment, the lawyer filed an urgent application with the presiding judge of the Bremgarten District Court, Peter Thurnherr: The children should remain in their father's custody until a professional assessment determines what is reasonable for them. "The Federal Supreme Court did find that a move to the Czech Republic would not be detrimental to the children's welfare. But it failed to consider the new facts." The boys had been reluctant to visit their mother since last summer. Thurnherr rejected the motion. According to Jucker, he also allegedly complained over the phone that the father was deliberately withholding his children. He is also said to have admitted advising the opposing party before the ruling. "Such a judge is biased," says the lawyer, who is now demanding that Thurnherr recuse himself and that the case be re-examined in light of the new facts. He declined to comment Thurnherr declined to comment on the allegations, but said that such family situations are always difficult to resolve. He stated that his primary concern had always been the child's welfare. The mother's lawyer declined to comment. While the father was in custody yesterday, the children were handed over to their mother in front of the Berikon town hall – under police supervision. |
VeV commentOnce again, members of the authorities demonstrate their helplessness and ultimately their inability to handle these situations. Instead of paying attention to the reactions of the two children and thoroughly investigating the facts, the acting members of the justice system prefer to create a fait accompli. The father is arrested as a precaution to prevent him from influencing further events. Then, the children are conveniently handed over to their mother so that she can leave Switzerland unhindered and without delay. In this case, as in many others before it, the actions of the authorities prove once again that the much-praised and often-cited best interests of the child are a mere farce, and are simply used as a convenient pretext for the underlying assumption that children belong to their mother, whether they want to or not. To speak of "the best interests of the child" in such a case, as the Bremgarten judge does, is a mockery of the fact that in this case the true well-being of the children is being trampled on and literally no one is taking their feelings into consideration When will our judges and officials, all the way up to the Federal Court, finally recognize that children need both parents and that this fundamental right should actually be protected by the rule of law? Or does the mother's right to travel abroad perhaps take precedence over the children's right to their familiar surroundings and proximity to their father and the rest of the family? Is the mother's freedom to choose her place of residence more important than the children's security in their familiar environment? What a sad world!
Letter to Judge Turnheer and the municipality of Berikon dated August 15, 2010 |