Norwegian court orders return of Marie-Eleni to Cyprus

Oslo district court has ordered the immediate return of four-year-old Marie Eleni to Cyprus, following her abduction from Nicosia almost five months ago, it emerged on Wednesday.

Lawyer Larry Vrahimis, acting on behalf of Marie’s mother Eleni Ioannou, told state radio that the order from Norway states that the girl’s Norwegian father, Torkel Grimsrud, must immediately return Marie to Cyprus.

If authorities in Norway locate her, arrangements will be made to return Marie to her mother in Cyprus, Vrahimis said. The court decision was made earlier last month.

Marie-Eleni was abducted outside her kindergarten in Dasoupoli, Nicosia on April 27, after a custody battle between her parents. Her father’s lawyer said a few days later that the girl was taken by Grimsrud himself.

The whereabouts of the father and child have been unknown since the abduction. A European and international arrest warrant was issued for Grimsrud. In May.

The Norwegian Supreme Court rejected another appeal for custody filed by Grimsrud on the grounds that the girl’s country of residence had never been Norway and he needed to file the appeal in Cyprus.

A total of seven people have been arrested in connection with the abduction, who have since been released.

Vrahimis said there was no information that could be announced as to where Marie was only information that was being investigated.

“The margin is getting tighter. Marie Eleni will soon have to come home,” he added.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.