The grandfather of an orphaned Israeli boy is sentenced to a 20-month suspended sentence by an Italian court for kidnapping the child and bringing him back to Israel.
Eitan Biran, a 6-year-old boy who was orphaned in a cable car crash in Italy, became the subject of a bitter custody fight between his Italy-based paternal family and his Israel-based maternal family.
After an Italian court temporarily granted the paternal family custody, Biran’s maternal grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, secretly smuggled the boy to Israel via Switzerland, prompting charges of kidnapping. Israel’s Supreme Court ordered him sent back.
Under a plea deal, the court gave Peleg a suspended sentence and also ordered him to pay 50,000 euros toward Eitan’s health and educational costs.
Biran was living in Italy at the time of the cable car crash that killed his parents, his younger brother and his great-grandparents.
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 15, 2022
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