Rimma Salonen, a Russian mother locked in a custody dispute with her Finnish former husband, is to face a number of charges in Tampere District Court in two weeks.
On Tuesday an application for a summons was issued against Salonen indicating that she will be charged with aggravated deprivation of freedom, child abduction, and embezzlement.
Salonen’s lawyer Heikki Lampela is not surprised by the impending charges.
“She feels that she is not guilty of any crime. She feels that she has acted as a caring mother. What Finnish law says is another matter, but she does not feel that she has committed any crime”, Lampela says.
Salonen has been banned from travelling outside of Finland.
Salonen took her son to Russia last year. The custody dispute between the father Paavo Salonen and Rimma Salonen became a public issue when it was revealed that earlier this year the son had been brought back to Finland in the boot of the car of a Finnish diplomat.
Since then, the case has been the focus of much media attention in both Russia and Finland.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has also investigated the actions of Paavo Salonen: both he and the diplomat who helped him are suspected of a border violation and could also face charges.
