The Russian mother of the kidnapped Russian child Anton Rimma Salonen has appealed to the Supreme Court contesting her verdict passed by the Court of Appeal.
Rimma Salonen is convinced that Finnish judicial system is under strong political pressure. Russian boy Anton was violently kidnapped in Russia from his mother by the group of people, including the boy’s Finnish father, who is now under criminal investigation.
After the kidnapping Anton was being kept in the Finnish consulate for several weeks and then smuggled to Finland in the trunk of the diplomatic car with the help of the former Finnish consul Simo Pietilainen, who is also under criminal investigation, on 8 May 2009.
Soon after the incident 14.5.2009 in the public TV interview Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb defended the illegal actions of Finnish diplomats regarding the abduction and smuggling of the child stating that Finnish diplomats acted “correctly, legally and humanely”. Finnish Foreign Minister also stressed that the father of the boy was his legal guardian and implied that the child’s Russian mother was the culprit even before any charges were pressed against the boy’s mother Rimma Salonen. So Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb has demonstrated his contempt towards the Finnish Court acting as a judge himself deciding on the fate of the child, passing the guilty-verdicts and taking the legal decisions in his own hands.
Due to the above mentioned statements of Finnish Foreign Minister the case against Rimma Salonen was already confirmed even before the official charges. Up to the present moment in the case of Rimma Salonen Finnish judicial system hasn’t demonstrated any independence from the political decisions. The mother has received the guilty-verdicts even without any strong evidence against her. The only argument against the mother is that she dared to travel with her son to Russia, which was automatically classified as kidnapping, though when travelling the mother was also the boy’s legal guardian.
In Finland the child has been separated from his Russian mother, but hardly the boy’s feelings are of any concern to the Finnish “Supreme judge” Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.
