NBI to investigate smuggling of Anton Salonen into Finland

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On Monday the National Bureau of Investigation, Finland's central criminal police arm, launched a preliminary investigation into whether the Finnish consular official Simo Pietiläinen had committed an offence when transporting 5-year-old Anton Salonen and his father Paavo Salonen to Finland in secret last month.
      According to police sources, an initial enquiry has given leave to suspect that the diplomat could have been guilty of a breach of his official duties.
     
Anton Salonen's Russian mother and Finnish father are embroiled in a custody dispute over the child. The mother had earlier abducted the child to Russia in defiance of a Finnish court ruling.
      As the linked stories report, Pietiläinen assisted the father by bringing him and his son from Russia to Finland in the back of his car, which was equipped with diplomatic licence-plates.
      The Finnish Border Guard earlier launched a preliminary investigation over a breach of the state frontier, and this, too, has been passed on to the police.
     
The case prompted some anger in Russia and triggered a diplomatic note from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
      At the same time, Pietiläinen's actions won some sympathy and understanding from the Finnish public, and even in political circles.
      Cross-border custody disputes are always an awkward matter, and in this instance the problems are exacerbated by Russia's not yet having signed up to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  President Halonen understands Putin´s sharp stand on Anton Salonen case (5.6.2009)
  Putin denounces diplomat for helping smuggle Anton out of Russia (4.6.2009)
  Finland replies to Russia´s diplomatic note over Anton custody dispute (29.5.2009)
  Something had to be done, says diplomat who brought abducted boy back to Finland (22.5.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat