An Italian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for Shmuel Peleg, the grandfather accused of kidnapping his grandson, Eitan Biran, the Italian press reported Wednesday.
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Biran, 6, is the sole survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy in May that killed 14 people, including his father, Amit Biran, his mother, Tal Peleg, his one-year-old brother, Tom, and his great-grandparents Barbara Cohen Konisky and Itshak Cohen.
After the tragedy, the boy was assigned to the custody of his paternal aunt, Aya Biran, who lived near Eitan's family in the city of Pavia, where Amit, his father, studied medicine.
Peleg, the child's maternal grandfather, allegedly abducted the boy by taking him to Israel in September.
A warrant was also issued for Gabriel Abutubul Alon, a 50-year-old Israeli man who allegedly drove the car in which Eitan was taken to the Swiss city of Lugano and then flown to Tel Aviv on a private jet.
According to the Italian prosecutor, Peleg and Alon carried out "a well prepared strategic plan" for the abduction of the child and bringing him to Israel with them.
Judge Iris Ilotovich-Segal of a Tel Aviv family court ruled on October 25 that the child must be returned to Italy and to the care of his paternal aunt.
The decision was released in view of the Hague Convention regarding the abduction of minors.
"We are waiting to see what will happen at the international level, i.e. the response of the Israeli authorities to the international arrest warrant," Pavia Prosecutor Mario Venditti told the Italian wire service Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) following the judge's ruling. "Then we will proceed with the closure of the investigation and the request for a trial."
On Thursday, a Tel Aviv family court is expected to hear the appeal submitted by Peleg and his wife, Eitan's grandmother, against its October 25 ruling. The family is reportedly also working via legal channels in Italy to annul the aunt's guardianship.
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