New case for Swedish boy seized from plane

 

"An appeal by parents of a "state-napped" Swedish boy who was taken into government custody because he was homeschooled has been rejected by an international court in Europe, which blasted the parents for preventing their son from going to school and keeping him "isolated from children of his own age."

"But Christer and Annie Johansson are working with a human-rights lawyer, who is bringing a new case in Sweden they hope will reunite them with their son, Domenic, now 12. The boy was taken from a jetliner by police in an armed SWAT-type raid at the age of 7 when the family was moving to India."

"The Johannsons have asked that parents from around the globe to step up and lobby the court on their behalf."

"According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, the Johanssons haven’t seen their son since November 2010..."

"This family’s battle has been long, hard and painfully disappointing," HSLDA said in its report. "After 7-year-old Domenic was initially seized in June 2009, a Swedish appeals court permanently transferred custody of Domenic to a third-party custodian and terminated Christer and Annie’s parental rights in December 2012."

"Since then, the dispute has been going on in courtrooms, where the HSLDA, together with the Alliance Defending Freedom, twice petitioned the European Court of Human Rights."

"The court’s most recent decision, citing a Swedish court ruling, went against the parents..."

"HSLDA said the family’s new case is being handled by noted human rights attorney Rudy Harrold-Claesson of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights."

Also on the case is Roger Kiska, senior counsel for ADF Global.

"What has happened in the Johansson’s situation is a horrible violation of family rights and every family’s worst nightmare," said Michael Donnelly, HSLDA director of global outreach."

"It is far beyond time that the Swedish courts realize they cannot separate a child from his parents simply due to the mistaken assumptions of a social worker.."

"The family must be respected as an integral unit of any democratic society," the suggestion includes."

"WND reported legal experts argue Swedish officials violated multiple human rights enshrined in international treaties to which the Swedish government is a party: the right of parents to direct the education of their children, family life, due process, travel and more..."

"When one court decision was released in Sweden in favor of the parents, government officials kept the child in custody until they were able to get it reversed."

"The frustration at one point prompted Christer to take his son during a brief visit and not return him to social workers, resulting in a prison sentence for the father..."

"As WND has been reporting for years, the Johansson family is hardly alone in battling Swedish authorities for the right to homeschool."
Dozens of families have already fled abroad, including Jonas Himmelstrand, the chief of the Swedish Homeschooling Association, ROHUS, who fled to Finland with his wife and children.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/new-hope-for-state-napped-homeschooler/#!