Charalambous v. Charalambous
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
627 F.3d 462 (1st Cir. 2010)
Savvas Charalambous (plaintiff), a citizen of Cyprus, and Elizabeth Charalambous (defendant), a U.S. citizen, married and lived together in Cyprus with their two children. Elizabeth took the children to Maine to visit family and never returned to Cyprus. Savvas filed a Hague Convention petition to compel the children's return. Elizabeth testified that Savvas had verbally and (once) physically abused her, though the children never witnessed it, and said she would not return to Cyprus out of her own fear. The district court found no grave risk of harm to the children and ordered their return. Elizabeth appealed.
Whether a court must return a child wrongfully retained outside the child's country of residence under the Hague Convention despite evidence of past abuse of the retaining parent, where the children never witnessed that abuse and would not be separated from either parent's care in the country of return.