The Israeli police said on Tuesday that they had questioned a suspect in the investigation into the alleged kidnapping of little Eitan, the only survivor of the cable car accident in May in Italy and since at the heart of a family dispute over his custody.
A 58-year-old man was "questioned on suspicion of being linked to a case of abduction of a 6-year-old child in Italy", assured the Israeli police in a statement, adding that a "complaint was filed on September 12 for suspicion of kidnapping a minor ”.
The parents of Eitan Biran, 6, as well as his little brother and two great-grandparents, are among the 14 people to have died in the fall of a cable car that occurred on May 23 in Stresa, a seaside resort in Piedmont. on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Italy.
Seriously injured, Eitan had spent several weeks in the Turin hospital.
Since his release, his paternal family, resident in Italy, and his maternal family, resident in Israel, have been fighting for custody.
"The parents' wish was for him to grow up in Israel"
The child was taken to Israel on Saturday by his maternal grandfather on a private jet, during a visitation right after which he was supposed to take him back to his father's sister, a resident of the province of Pavia, in northern Italy, which had legal guardianship.
The Pavia public prosecutor's office on Sunday opened an investigation for "kidnapping", according to the Italian agency Ansa.
Israeli police said the investigation was continuing and that the suspect had been released on conditions.
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Italy: 14 dead and 1 seriously injured in the fall of a cable car
Eitan had been handed over to his paternal aunt by the court, while his mother's family had visitation rights.
Italian justice had also ordered the return of his passport which his maternal family was in possession of.
On Tuesday evening, the child's maternal uncle, Guy Peleg, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 that "Eitan's parents wanted him to grow up in Israel." Peleg denied that there was a "kidnapping", saying the child was brought to Israel legally. Eitan's parents, Amit Biran, 30, and Tal Peleg, 27, had lived for several years in Italy where Amit was a medical student. Their youngest son, Tom, was born there in 2019.
