The Italian citizen who was accused of kidnapping their children by his Moldovan wife said it is the woman who, without informing him, took their son and daughter out of Italy, where they were born and lived, based on provisional documents. The man said he did nothing but take the children home, based on a provisional decision issued by an Italian court, which says that the two children must stay with their father in Italy, and based on an ordinance issued by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family of Moldova.
In a news conference at IPN on January 19, lawyer Eduard Digore said the accusations made by his client’s wife and the parliamentary ombudswoman for children’s rights Tamara Plamadeala are groundless. “We want to inform that the mother, without the knowledge and consent of the father and in the absence of an agreement or decision of the Italian public authorities, took the children out of Italy. The children were born and lived on the territory of Italy and had the place of residence there. These poor children were abducted one night and brought to another society where they do not have relatives and friends and whose language they don’t know,” said the lawyer.
According to Eduard Digore, the woman crossed the border based on temporary documents that she obtained after declaring that she lost the children’s papers. In reality, the papers were at the children’s father. As the woman said, she came to Moldova on vacation, but in fact wanted to stay with the children here and to enroll them at a school. The woman refused to communicate with the children’s father and thus the man decided to go to court.
In the same news conference, the children’s father Roberto Martina said that one day his wife told him that she wanted to enter Moldovan politics and thus wanted to move to Moldova together with their two children. The couple went to a psychologist, who told them that such a transfer could be harmful to the children. Even so, the woman, blinded by egoism and the wish to build a career, left together with their two children without informing him.
The Italian citizen also said that when he arrived in Moldova, he went to the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, which issued an ordinance to take the children back to their domicile in Italy. There is also a temporary decision by an Italian court, which says that the two children must remain in the care of their father. The man didn’t go to the police as he does not want to hurt the children. In March, an Italian court is to decide where the children should live.
In a news conference on January 14, the children’s mother said that her daughter and son were illegally taken out of Moldova by their father, who is a citizen of Italy and whom she is divorcing. She accused the man of giving bribe for obtaining the ordinance from the Ministry of Labor and of transmitting it to the courts in Italy afterward. For their part, these courts decided that the children should stay with their father.
