Court Rejects Custody Case Complaint

The court's decision means that the process of returning the boys to the United States can continue.

The 10 and 13-year old brothers were taken by police from a remote farm in Kainuu province last Wednesday. The boys had been hiding at the farm for a month.

Their mother said the police used excessive force in taking the boys. She also said their opinions had not been sufficiently taken into account. Both allegations were rejected by the District Court.

Counsel for Outi Koski has filed the complaint with the Court of Appeal in Eastern Finland.

Both boys are now in psychiatric care and their exact whereabouts have not been revealed.

The court's decision is the latest twist in this bizarre and drawn-out custody battle. The boys' American father has primary legal custody of the boys, who officially reside with him in the United States.

The boys' mother disappeared with her sons when she lost a custody case and was ordered by a Finnish court to return the children to their father in the U.S.

Finland's Supreme Court ruled against her appeals to have the lower court's decision overturned.

The mother had earlier taken the boys from the US on holiday and failed to return them at the appointed time. After making several unsuccessful pleas to Finnish courts, in which she argued that the boys did not want to live with their father, she was finally ordered to give them up to authorities.

YLE24, Finnish News Agency