Antoine S. noted the date on his diary. The President of the Republic receives his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev, this Tuesday in Paris. A state visit. He hopes that Emmanuel Macron will give him a word about him. Antoine S. has been chasing his children for around fifteen months. His former wife, a Kazakh, left for a summer with Elsa (6 years old) and Aristide (4 years old). She didn’t come back anymore.
Beginning of the story. Antoine S. works in catering, particularly in large hotels abroad. He settled down in 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He stayed there for a little over three years. The Frenchman meets love. A Kazakh. She already has a boy from a previous union. Life is good for the couple. They get married. In the process, the three of them left Kazakhstan (with his wife’s boy). Antoine S. occupies various positions in the restaurant industry in France but also in the United Arab Emirates and Algeria. His wife (accompanied by his son) follows him on all his adventures.
“I went to her house and it was empty”
The great ride ends. They set down their suitcases in Roanne (Loire). Elsa was born in 2018. Aristide two years later. The family is big, but “it gets complicated” after the birth of their second child, explains the father. The couple is going through a crisis. They don’t get along anymore. They divorce. Joint custody in Roanne. Disputes between parents. She threatens him to leave with the children for Kazakhstan. Antoine S. warns justice. He requests a ban on children leaving the territory. Refusal. Elsa and Aristide’s mother has her whole family there. Why prevent kids from seeing their maternal grandmother and their cousins? She leaves for the first time, in July 2022, for a month. She returns on the scheduled date.
Things went less well the following year. “I was supposed to pick them up at the end of July. I went to her house and it was empty. I tried to call him. She sent me a message the next day to tell me that she did not intend to return to France and neither did the children.” No more sound. More pictures. Antoine S. gallops in all directions. He goes around in circles. He hires a lawyer in Kazakhstan. The country’s justice system ruled in his favor twice, notably the Supreme Court (we were able to consult the documents). In vain. His former wife does not follow up on court decisions. Antoine S. wrote to the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, in October, to ask for help (we were able to consult the letter). A call for help supported by the nine parliamentarians from the Loire, including senator Cécile Cukierman and deputy Sylvie Bonnet, who signed the document.
“Alternative custody”
The father of Elsa and Aristide now places his hopes in the hands of the President of the Republic. “I only ask him to speak about my case to his counterpart so that he can enforce the legal decisions of France, which has implemented joint custody, and of Kazakhstan which has recognized my rights, he said on the phone. I haven’t seen or heard from my children for too long.”
Source: www.liberation.fr
