Prague, Jan 30 (CTK) – The Supreme Court of Norway refused the appeal of a Czech mother, Eva Michalakova, against the verdict of a Norwegian regional court and it will not deal with the decision that stripped her of parental rights to her two sons, Jakub Cyrani, from a team supporting Michalakova, said on Monday.
Michalakova will address the European Court of Human Rights now, Cyrani told CTK.
The Czech government said previously the Czech state would support Michalakova at the court in Strasbourg.
Cyrani said Michalakova’s lawyers also want to talk directly to the foster parents of the two sons and check the conditions of the boys.
One of the lawyers, Pavel Hasenkopf, said they want to tell the two foster families that the boys should pass an exam in Czech language at a Czech school because they have Czech citizenship.
Another lawyer, Dora Bokova, said Norway has not accused Michalakova of anything and Michalakova has lost her parental rights because she openly spoke about her case to Czech media.
In 2011, the Norwegian child welfare service Barnevernet took Denis and David, who were six and four years old then, away from their Czech parents on suspicion of abuse, neglect and physical maltreatment. The suspicion was not proved then, but the court considered the findings serious and decided to place the boys in foster families.
Zdenek Kapitan, director of the Czech Office for International Legal Protection of Children, said a criminal court was not deciding on the guilt of the parents and a civilian court dealt with case and concluded that the findings were serious and the children should stay with the foster parents.
Last June, Norwegian court verdict stripped the mother of parental rights and banned her from seeing the boys. The father cannot see the boys either but he was not stripped of his parental rights. The parents divorced after their sons were taken away from them. The court did not give consent to the adoption of the younger boy.
Information on the case have been provided by Michalakova’s supporters and Norwegian authorities do not comment on it. Some media and experts say a clear picture of the case cannot be based on this one-sided view.
The Norwegian Embassy in Prague wrote on its website that Norwegian institutions cannot react to incorrect statements because they must maintain confidentiality and protect the privacy of the two boys.
