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BBC MUNDO RADIO
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Brazilian Supreme Court judge blocked the return to the United States of a 9-year-old boy at the center of an international custody dispute on Thursday, saying the boy's own will must be taken into account.
The judge granted a habeas corpus request preventing Sean Goldman from leaving Brazil until he has expressed his own will in court. Brazil's O Globo newspaper said on its website that the case would now be delayed until February.
A federal court had ruled on Wednesday that the boy must be handed over to the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro in 48 hours in a victory for his American father David Goldman, who arrived in Rio on Thursday to collect him.
New Jersey resident Goldman has been fighting for custody of Sean, since his then-wife took the boy on vacation to her native Brazil in 2004, then divorced him and stayed there in what Goldman calls a case of child abduction.
The mother remarried, but died last year. Her family and second husband have sought to keep the boy in Brazil.
The family says that Sean wants to stay in Brazil and argued in their latest petition to the Supreme Court that the boy's own statements should be taken into consideration.
RIGHT TO BE HEARD
Supreme Court judge Marco Aurelio said that Sean had the right to be heard by Brazilian courts and that he was old enough to make his own decision about where to live.
"At stake is a life in formation. At stake is the right to come and go, the right to an opinion and expression as well as human dignity," he said in a statement released on the court's website.
He said the Hague Abduction Convention aimed a curbing cases of child abduction by parents recognized the importance of the child's will and the possibility of refusing a return if it went against "fundamental human rights and liberties."
Christopher Schmidt, a legal expert with U.S. law firm Bryan Cave LLP, told Reuters that the Brazilian judge's decision was surprising given the young age of the boy.
"Especially in this case where the child has been held universally in the control of just one of the parties and in this case the abducting party's family," said Schmidt, who has fought five Hague cases in recent years.
Local courts in Brazil had previously declined to grant Goldman custody, despite Brazil and the United States being signatories to the Hague treaty.
Goldman's case threatened to disrupt Brazil-U.S. ties this year after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Brazil's government to push for the boy's return. Lawyers for the Brazilian family have said the U.S. ambassador pressured Brazil's government to get involved in the case.
Clinton said in a statement on Wednesday that she was pleased by the ruling and expressed hope that it was the end of the saga. Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution this year asking Brazil to return Sean.
(Additional reporting by Bruno Marfinati; editing by Anthony Boadle)
