TEL AVIV. The third and final hearing at the Tel Aviv Family Court on the story of Eitan Biran, the little survivor of the Mottarone tragedy, ended last night with a session lasting over 12 hours. “Now the lawyers – said Shmuel Moran, lawyer of Aya Biran Nirko, paternal aunt of the child who has her protection – will forward their final conclusions to the judge who will then have to go to sentence”.
Judge Iris Ilotovich Segal has 2 weeks for the verdict – which moves within the framework of the Hague Convention on the abduction of minors -. During the session – behind closed doors like the others – numerous witnesses were heard, including an expert in Italian law. Shortly before the meeting ended, the maternal grandmother of Eitan Esther Cohen Peleg, former wife of Shmuel Peleg – who took the child to Israel without consent and is under investigation in Italy for kidnapping – arrived in court but did not release any statement, merely bringing comfort to the ex-wife. Now the ball passes to the judge who, according to the Convention, will have to decide whether to send the child back to Italy immediately as requested by aunt Aya Biran Nirko.