I'm George's attorney, Athena Roussos. I have represented George for over two years now when we first appealed Judge Fogel's decision. Initially, Judge Fogel granted the mother's peition to return the child to Greece, but he based that decision entirely on the fact that the Greek courts rejected George's Hague petition there. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Fogel's decision and held that the Greek court completely misapplied the law and misconstrued the facts - and therefore it was improper to give the Greek court decision any recognition. This was no "technicality" but a complete rejection of what the Greek court did. The Greek court a) made no determination of the child's habitual residence, b) found that George "consented" to the child being in Greece, although he only consented to a 30-day trip in writing, c) abandoned the child (based on no evidence), and d) found that the child was in grave danger if returned to the US because he would be separated from his mother. The Greek court also refused to allow George to have his own counsel or participate in any meaningful way in the hearing. You can read the published 9th Cir. opinion - Asvesta v. Petroutsas on Google Scholar.
After we won the appeal, in April Judge Fogel finally found in our favor, finding Andoni's habitual residence is in the US, but the mother and her attorney, Stephen Cullen, convinced the judge to let her have one more visit in Greece.
I just wanted to say thank you for the support and prayers for Andoni's return. Just so the mother knows, I am not giving up and will continue to fight until Andoni is returned!
