'We will not abandon Sean'

For the grandfather of affection, child, that family is the target of litigation and diplomatic imbroglio, lives a private jail in the U.S.
April 10, 2010 | 10h 34

Laura Greenhalgh and Ivan Marsiglia

A year ago, the lawyer carioca Paulo Lins e Silva, 65, whose surname glimpses a centenary clan of lawyers, declined the invitation for this notebook to give an interview on Sean Goldman, age 9, his firstborn daughter Bruna Bianchi, who died in 2008, and in turn stepson of his son, also a lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, whom the court had granted the affective paternity. 'Dr. Paul 'used e-mail, telephone and good education to explain that the time had come to speak about the case. The custody of the child, born in the United States was being claimed by the biological father, American David Goldman, who invoked the Hague Convention by stating that the Bianchi family had kidnapped his son. We insisted in the interview. After all, as a leading expert in Family Law and Probate, and not only in Brazil but internationally, dealing with such thorny case, involving relatives and longtime friends? Lins e Silva remained silent: "When you can, speak. Not now."

The unfolding case of Brazil knows: a legal battle moved from Rio to the Superior Court of Justice in Brasilia, the head of the U.S. Department of State, Hillary Clinton, David came into the game defending, Brazil came to be threatened with commercial retaliation if the boy did not return to the living father, television networks were filled with dramatic twists and turns of history, until, on 22 December last year, the president of the Supreme Court, Gilmar Mendes, stayed the injunction obtained days before by Silvana Bianchi, the maternal grandmother, which guarantee the permanence of her grandson in Brazil. On Christmas Eve, Sean was returned to his biological father, beset by spotlights, cameras and popular curiosity.

"My grandson was returned to the United States as a commodity," said on Thursday Paulo Lins e Silva, now willing to vent, but still clung to the view that the outcome of the conflict has nothing legal - is political, "he repeats gravely and paused. In the following interview, Lins e Silva is capable of very personal confessions, such as that Sean was the one who decided, first, calling him "grandfather", or was he himself who taught his grandson to ride a horse in farms they own. As has also insisted that his son, John Paul, would never abandon the legal battle around the child, as her grandmother, Silvana. "We're going as far as possible," he reiterates. But here's the dilemma that back: Paul, the grandfather of affection, either move the world to rescue his grandson. Lins e Silva, a lawyer, knows that it must fight to the end, but assesses: "Hardly Sean again. Have you seen the U.S. retreat? By chance they saw the two American pilots in Brazil answered by that terrible plane crash?" And in the moments that most shocked the conversation, Lins e Silva said: "David Sean collected the cell. He took the laptop I bought for the boy. Forbids him to speak Portuguese, writing emails and communicate Skype. We are not allowed to visit. My grandson is living in a private jail in the United States. Here in Brazil, since there would be reason enough to warrant arrest. "

As Mr.. can deal with this dispute, as a lawyer and party?

I follow everything since October 2004 when my son, John Paul, began dating Bruna. She brought Sean to Brazil, with the permission of David, in May of that year. The boy had just turned 4 years old. I knew the family of Bruno long: his parents were friends of my parents. And I remember that my son commented that there was a dispute for custody between her and ex-husband. Then he learned of the outcome of this: Bruno managed to win the Supreme Court, in 2007, by 3-2, with a vote of the very human Andrighi Nancy minister, stressing there was no kidnapping and child was adapted to Brazil. The minister also based on Articles 12 and 13 of the Hague Convention. We are happy when they married later that year, and even more when she became pregnant. But one thing I thought was strange: not the boy's father phoned it did not come in contact, not participating. My daughter had a daughter, Chiara, who comes from Clara, because the family is of Italian origin. Unfortunately, for medical failure, Bruna died in the days following childbirth.

Medical error was it?

Yes, there is case in court here in Rio against the doctor and the nursing home. She died from blood loss, there was a gap between birth and the coming of the doctor, which took almost six hours to give relief. Bruna died from haemorrhage, which does not happen today ... Anyway, born Chiara and Sean became our companion. It has always been attached to me, my wife and my son. He said things like, "Do not let me, I love you."

I was afraid they would take him?

Since 2005. He recounted: "I remember Dad (David) and mom fighting, screaming, falling closet. The John Paul loves you so much mom ..." It was Sean who asked my son if he could call him "father." And called me "Grandpa," I did not ask. I have a stud, I create manga-wide horse walker. Sean was my companion. I taught him to ride. And so the families have joined. Today I live in the same building and walk my cossogros: Silvana and 301 in Raymond, I, my wife and son at 302. I rented the apartment next door after the death of my daughter, just so we could have a structured environment, familiar.

The parents of d. Silvana, grandmother of Sean, were linked to their parents, right?

Yes, best friends. Harold Lins e Silva, my father was the pioneer of family laws in Brazil. And he was the brother of Evandro Lins e Silva, who was minister of the Supreme. Then there was this bond, but the family integration took root in the figure of Sean. Because, in the U.S. he had no family. The father did not work, only the mother. David was a dummy, sometimes qualifies as a real estate broker, others as a pilot boat. But he lived practically held by women. And Sean did not feel the attachment to have grandmother, grandfather, uncle, father, sister. On the death of Bruno, I remember Sean in the nursing home with Chiara in her lap ... The two became very close. Today, living with his brother away, Chiara, who is 1 year and 7 months, enters the room of Sean and asks for it. Want to play with him, that's terrible. Well, back to the time of death of Bruno. Need to open up for the inventory of the woman, my son asked in court custody of Sean. He is heir to Bruna. And as the biological father had not seen his son for nearly five years, we thought we would never find him.

There was an error in the original Bruna come with Sean to Brazil without permission?

David consented, even took them to the airport. But, you see, was a couple in crisis, which had no sexual relations for more than four years. Since the child was not related. David also does not talk, frown. At the airport, she said she would return. But coming here, he thought and called him "David, do not want more. Our marriage is over. Come here, give way and let's talk the terms of a divorce." He refused.

But he says he repeatedly came to Brazil to see her son. Shows up in passport stamps.

It came eight times, but not searched. And when he says that linking is a lie. So much so, in his own defense, the application for custody of the child, says David who has not visited the lawyer for guidance.

Mr.. I would say that there was no obstacle, that decision was David's lawyer, is it?

If the lawyer told him "jump out the window," he jump? Now, if my lawyer says "you do not see your son," I change a lawyer! David was not prevented: it is written and signed in his defense.

What did David? Would have a plan?

He mobilized the Brazilian Central Authority to characterize the boy was here for a breach of the Hague Convention. But how, if the minister had decided the previous year there was no violation and that the child should be kept here? Sean lived in Brazil for nearly five years without contact with his biological father, supported by two families on board. Brazil was subdued compared to U.S. pressure. The decision of the case was not judicial, was political.

And why?

First, because the Federal Court has no power for deciding matters of family law, though the constitution says that when there are international treaties involved, jurisdiction is the federal branch. But a magistrate judge every day smuggling, tax evasion, the INSS debt, embezzlement, white collar crimes, can not suddenly be able to know what is best for a child. And the family of Justice had given custody to John Paul, when David's lawyer argued that jurisdiction was federal court.

There was also the argument that Mr.. Justice is very influential in Rio

I'm not influential in any justice. If it was, won all the cases in my office, and this is not true. What my family has a tradition of 150 years in the law. And a relationship of integrity, respect, with many people. The court here granted custody to John Paul because it was natural. Would defer to whom, the father present or absent father? Today, worldwide, the court decides for emotional, not by biology. The judge asks, who acknowledged this child, who changed his diapers, who gave baby food, who traveled with her, who took her to the altar ... That's what counts anywhere in the world.

And that this understanding is missing?

We begin to feel the interference of the then American ambassador to Brazil Clifford Sobel. He was seen entering and leaving the office of chief justice, minister Cesar Asfor. He wrote letters to the President of the Court of Rio de Janeiro at the time, Judge Murta Ribeiro. I kept calling all who is president of the court.

How do you assess the support of Hillary Clinton battle for the biological father?

David is the State of New Jersey and noted there is strong political interest in the case. Notice that Republican Rep. Chris Smith, who came to David to Brazil, is running for reelection. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, so Hillary, also engaged. All wanting to get political dividends from a story that stirs the public. They created a blog, "Bring Sean Home", which fires thousands of emails. David's supporters filled the mailboxes of ministers, judges and justices of Rio and Brasilia. They received 10, 15 e-mails per day.

It was an undue interference?

Chris Smith, on the day of decision in the Supreme Court, was inside the courtroom. And she talked all the time. That day was March 2009, we proposed a deal. David would have the right to visit as often as time and he wanted the boy. David stood up, spoke with Chris Smith and then answered. "No, I want to take Sean to the U.S. and you are visiting when they want." And now is not fulfilling, is not it? Well, when it had rights, David appeared only four times. He started coming half hour in the morning, half an hour ago. On other occasions, reported that he went to visit and did not appear. Then the U.S. Consulate phoned saying there had been unforeseen. No unexpected! David was seen lunching and dining at the Country Club of Rio de Janeiro, with the ambassador and diplomats ... Sobel, it seems, is pre-candidate for U.S. Senate.

Why would someone initially uninterested, as you say, years later would fight for custody of the child?

Today, this NGO that David created became a big business. His interest is not emotional, is material. Always has been. Demanded the family of Bruno, the court of New Jersey, U.S. $ 150 000 to release the right of her family had to sell a home in the U.S.. And the family paid. Note that the first act of David in a press conference upon returning with her son to the U.S., along with the U.S. attorney, asked another $ 500 000.

As a form of presumed damages.

There needs to be a journalist or lawyer, even the layman has already seen interest. Apart from NGOs, which receive donations, David has sold rights to coverage for NBC.

And film?

What is already being filmed! Here comes the movie, book, you get ready by the end of the year or early next will announce. Everybody's billing.

After shipment to the U.S., NBC has released photos of the smiling boy with his father on the plane. Is to be false?

It was all engineered: NBC chartered a plane to get Sean and paid the Marriott hotel in Rio, where he hosted the David, the deputy, a person connected to the senator and Arturo Valenzuela, who works with Hillary. They mounted a true headquarters there. David made the trip from the airport to the hotel accompanied by a security detail assigned by the Brazilian government, I never saw it! And suddenly, a process that was stalled since July in federal court is dismissed in December. So we filed habeas corpus in the Supreme Court and the Minister Marco Aurelio Mello requested that the hearing child. What happened? The Minister Gilmar Mendes, who was neither the rapporteur was appointed as the Minister Peluso, claims the decision for you and sends the boy back. Minister Marcus Aurelius would say later, in an interview that the child was dispatched like a thing.

Sean was old enough to be heard?

The official age to be heard in Brazil is 12 years. Sean is 9, going to 10 next month. But the law allows the judge to hear even with 3 children, 4 years. You have no idea how the child was on the eve of leaving ... Screaming, crying, holding onto the legs of people. Suddenly, he was beside himself. Stopped, no longer spoke.

Would play in an alleged threat of trade retaliation by the U.S., if Sean was not returned.

Yes, that would reach 3,400 Brazilian products. For I knew in the U.S., it was all a bluff, because the exemption on such products had already been decided before Sean to go there. This week saw the Minister Celso Amorim talking in the Senate, saying that the U.S. press on the cotton issue ... Press nothing. My grandson is that was changed as if it were cotton, shoe, in a climate of theater. See that the minister's decision Gilmar was that the boy gave himself up to noon on December 24. Now, we live in a Christian country and choose Christmas? Why?

So it was no coincidence?

Pure pressure: the contract that NBC had with the company that rented the plane due to expire in 24 hours. It was all commercially decided. Today Gilmar Mendes did not mention the matter, but said, soon after, while on a bike ride: "I decided that business as soon as he was giving a lot of work." This is an expression of a minister?

Mr.. think David has managed to attract the sympathy of the Brazilian press?

In some sectors of the Brazilian press, yes. By the pressure exerted by the blog and the influence of American media. But most journalists do not. Felt the brutality that was to take a child on Christmas Eve and deliver. It is the law of the strongest. The Americans did not stop a police station here in the Bay of Guanabara. Just missed it.

Mr.. David mentions walking with scouts in Brazil, but he accuses her family of making spectacle at the time of delivery at the American consulate Sean ...

We had no idea what to do, no one directed us. We could have fled, disappeared with the child. But we name and respect for the judiciary. Either we're using, with the hope that my son will win the case.

The struggle continues?

John Paul has not abandoned, and not abandon them, Sean. This week in an interview for a Sao Paulo newspaper, the lawyer for David, when asked about the continuation of the dispute, said: "It will not do anything." It is a disrespect to our judiciary. We continue province. Brazil, with such immense economic potential abroad, remains subdued. But the case is not closed in Brazil, here the decision was preliminary. And the delivery boy was a total haste because senators, and even the Foreign Ministry Marco Aurelio Garcia did not stop to call the STF. It is as if to say "soon release this package of shoes!"

Sean's grandmother is difficult to see it?

She has twice been the U.S., but without success. The child is living a true false imprisonment. If it were, already had an arrest warrant on the street. There, there, turned political triumph: Sean will elect deputies, senators, even the mayor of Tinton Falls, where David lives, has his eye on reelection. And talk me into the world. I chaired the Inter-American Bar Association, Washington, and the International Union of Lawyers in Paris. Because it sends e-mails to members and directors of these institutions kidnapper calling me. I suffered with this, it was something that shocked me.

How is d. Silvana?

Silvana is dying inside. Who knew years ago, looks and thinks it's an 80. Lost her daughter, now his grandson. Sean left Brazil with two phone lines, we gave him. And a laptop. I paid for that computer there, present for my grandson. For it was subtracted as much as cell phones. Sean is forbidden to speak Portuguese. In one of the trips, Silvana had a meeting with David and the American psychologist who takes care of Sean. The psychologist said it would be salutary to see the boy's grandmother. But David did not leave. And his lawyer says: "The grandparents will see it in due course." When? When you're 21?

How many times have you contacted Sean?

Silvana exchanged words four times by telephone, 30 seconds each time. She can not speak Portuguese in front of him, can not speak of Chiara, or express longing. It's an absurd thing, turned Guantanamo! If tomorrow the injunction of the Gilmar Mendes is dropped and you decide that the child should be heard, how to ask this? Who to ask? David moved the phone including the house where he lives. I wonder if Sean back. Did the United States sent back to deposition, the two American pilots who caused the accident that killed Gol do not know how many? And the five Cubans who are being tried there, the famous "Cuban Five" again? Never.

What would be the lesser evil?

Lesser evil would be the expansion of the child visitation for grandparents and affectionate father. That this was approved and Sean had the right to spend their holidays here, and back. One thing at a high level. We have great confidence in our attorney, Sergio Tostes. He's ace, a professional cut in Harvard. And we hope that the judicial decision, not politics, is favorable. Why did the Brazilian government officials remain silent? Because they know they were submissive. But my belief in justice is a condition of faith, tradition. Learn

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