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Prominent Russian lawyer to fly to France on Elise Andre case

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A prominent Russian lawyer and a member of the Russian Public Chamber, Anatoly Kucherena, will try to reach an amicable agreement over a custody dispute between the parents of a three-year-old French-Russian girl.
MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - A prominent Russian lawyer and a member of the Russian Public Chamber, Anatoly Kucherena, will try to reach an amicable agreement over a custody dispute between the parents of a three-year-old French-Russian girl.

Elise Andre, caught up in 'tug of love' between her French father and Russian mother, was kidnapped in south France last month, allegedly by her mother, Irina Belenkaya. The woman was arrested attempting to cross the border from Hungary to Ukraine with her daughter on April 12 and is currently in custody in Hungary.

"We received the go ahead to prepare an appropriate project for an amicable agreement and tomorrow I am leaving for France," Kucherena said.

He said he would meet with the girl's 51-year-old father, Jean-Michel Andre and his lawyer, Victor Gioia, in France. The French father said on Tuesday that he was against joint custody but in favor of visitation rights as long as he has a guarantee his daughter will return to France.

"After [my visit to] France, we will get an idea of how sincere Andre was in saying he was ready for an amicable agreement," the Russian lawyer said.

Kucherena also said he would meet with Gioia and Belenkaya's Hungarian lawyer, Robert Fridman, in Moscow next week.

A court in Hungary ruled last week that Belenkaya should remain in police detention until an extradition request from the French authorities on kidnapping charges is issued. However, if France fails to issue an extradition warrant within 40 days, Belenkaya, who refused to consent to the simplified extradition procedure, could be freed.

In France, Belenkaya is also accused of organizing an attack on her ex-husband. Andre says his ex-wife was among a group of assailants who seized his daughter from him.

Andre said last week that he did not want his wife to face a jail term for kidnapping her child and agreed to send his daughter to Russia for two months if her return back to France was guaranteed.

Elise has been "kidnapped" back and forth three times in the past two years by her warring parents. Andre was awarded custody by a French court after their divorce in 2007.

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