Jerusalem Post British Members of Parliament have accused the Austrian judicial system
of corruption, and alleged that a conspiracy has taken place, in
relation to the case of a UK-born woman who has lost custody of her twin
sons in Austria. [...]
Schlesinger, a Jewish woman from Manchester in the UK, married an
Austrian man in October 2006 and subsequently moved to Vienna with him.
The marriage quickly broke down and both parents applied for sole
custody of the children in 2009. At one stage, Schlesinger’s husband, a
doctor, tried to have her committed to a mental institute by bringing
paramedics to their home to sedate her, although this attempt failed,
and her husband was subsequently evicted from their home by the police
for this action.
Nevertheless, a judge in the Austrian family
courts awarded the father full custody, despite the recommendations of
the social services for the district where the family lived, and despite
the previous ruling of an appeal court which had denied the father’s
appeal against an earlier custody award to Beth.
Before the July
2011 ruling, the court heard evidence from police, paramedics and a
police psychiatrist all confirming that Schlesinger was mentally stable.
However, the judge relied on a report of a court psychologist who wrote
that she was mentally ill, although this assessment was subsequently
refuted in November 2011 by a court psychiatrist who said that she had
never suffered from mental illness in the past or currently.
The
family court judge also ignored the demands of the Appeal Court and the
Supreme Court ordering new assessments on her children and the father,
despite significant developmental problems experienced by them, while
the father has to date not been psychiatrically evaluated by the court,
despite worrying evidence about his behavior.
Parliamentarians in
the UK brought the case to the attention of the House of Commons on
Tuesday evening, with MP Graham Stringer describing the case as
“Kafkaesque,” and asked that the government take action on the matter.
“What
has happened to Beth Schlesinger belies understanding,” said Stringer.
“Authorities have taken decisions about her life and her children’s
lives which are inexplicable and certainly unjust,” the MP continued [...]
“I don’t usually believe in conspiracies but in this case the
decisions that were taken were so strange that one has to suspect that
undue influence and conspiracy were taking place,” MP Stringer told the
House of Commons.
“Brought to its bare bones, this case is about a violent father who has been violent towards the mother of his children and other members of the family and who has been given custody of two children,” Stringer concluded.[...]
“Brought to its bare bones, this case is about a violent father who has been violent towards the mother of his children and other members of the family and who has been given custody of two children,” Stringer concluded.[...]