Agreement possible in French-Russian child custody battle

An end could be in sight in the battle over the custody of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who has been at the centre of a dispute between her parents for much of her short life and has been kidnapped on three occasions.

Both parents could be about to sign an agreement which would give them shared custody over Elise, the daughter of a Russian-born mother, Irina Belenkaya, and a French father, Jean-Michel André.

The last time Elise was abducted was on March 20 in the southern French city of Arles, when she was taken by two men dressed as security guards and a woman.

Her father was left badly beaten, and French police put out an alerte de l'enlèvement (the equivalent of an amber alert) on nation-wide basis, later extending it throughout the whole of Europe.

On April 12, Elise was found safe and sound by Hungarian police in the company of her mother as Belenkaya attempted to cross the border with her daughter into Ukraine.

Belenkaya was detained and André flew to Hungary to collect his daughter and bring her back to France.

The case has always been particularly complex because both parents have been awarded individual custody of Elise by courts in their respective countries.

Similarly both are liable to prosecution for abduction in one another's countries; Belenkaya in France and André in Russia.

When the couple split three years ago, a French court gave André custody of their daughter.

But just one month later she was kidnapped by Belenkaya and taken to Moscow.

An international arrest warrant was issued for the mother at the time but Russia refused to comply or even acknowledge it, and instead gave Belenkaya custody over her daughter.

So a stalemate was reached, with French courts having given André custody while as far as Russia was concerned Belenkaya was completely within her rights.

In September 2008 André flew to Moscow to find his daughter and for the second time she was abducted, although without any violence according to André.

Again the two countries' legal systems differed as to the rights of the parents.

As far as France was concerned, André had acted within his legal rights to bring Elise back to this country, while the authorities in Moscow said he had breached Russian custody law.

Now after this third - and hopefully final - kidnapping, an amicable agreement between Belenkaya and André could be on the cards, according to reports in the French media.

It has been hammered out by lawyers representing both parents and would allow Elise to live as near normal a life as possible, without two parents tussling over custody rights.

Belenkaya has reportedly agreed to terms that would mean she would have access to Elise under French law, admit her role before French courts in the most recent kidnapping of her daughter and in particular the attack on André, and most importantly accept shared custody.

It's not yet a done deal though. André still has to sign and it has to be approved by French courts.

And there's still the matter of whether Belenkaya will be extradited to France even though she has already agreed to appear before the courts in this country.

On Wednesday Hungarian authorities signed an order for her extradition which could take place within the next two weeks, but her lawyer immediately launched an appeal.

So the whole process of an amicable solution could still hang in the balance.

But in spite of that, André's lawyer, Victor Gioia, is still upbeat that an end to the long-running custody battle is just within reach.

"It's a mother who committed an act of folly through love," Gioia said on French television.

"She must be capable of explaining that, and she has been well advised and we're on the right road for finding a solution - a solution for Elise," he added.