The Supreme Court (7th Criminal Division) rejected a divorced mother’s application seeking to overturn an appeals decision by which she was sentenced to 15 months in prison with a three-year suspension, as she prevented her child from communicating with his father, despite the existence of a court order that determines the days of contact between the child and the father.

The mother was convicted of persistent non-compliance with a court order.

The mother, according to the judges, knew that she had the obligation, as a relevant court decision had been issued, to hand over her minor child to his father, in order to exercise the right to communicate with him. These actions of the mother, according to the court decision, were done in the context of her attempt to completely alienate the child from his father and her ex-husband.

In particular, the father’s communication with his son was regulated by a decision of the Single-Member Court of Appeal and was applied normally. But, “suddenly on Easter of the year 2016, the minor son refused to follow his father and since then he has been negative towards him with the result that all communication was blocked”.

Then with a decision on injunctive measures Mrthe father’s communication with his son was temporarily restricted, but according to a court decision, it was proven that the mother of the minor, although she knew that she had the relevant obligation – intentionally did not hand over (34 times within a period of 4 months) her minor to his father.

On the contrary, the mother claimed that “the failure of the regulated communication is not due to her but to the persistent refusal of her minor son, who did not wish to communicate with his father, ‘despite her own constant admonitions, admonitions and exhortations'”.

But her claim that “doesn’t ring true”, according to the court decision, as the son refused to agree to meet with his father “because of his mother’s manipulations”. And as it is characteristically mentioned in the court decision, “it is true that the minor did not wish to communicate with his father, but this refusal was acquired and due to the behavior of his mother”.

Following these, the court ruled that the mother “intentionally decided to continuously violate the court order and not allow the minor to communicate with his father, wishing for his complete alienation from him and therefore must be declared guilty”.

Ultimately, the judges ruled that the mother voluntarily committed acts that constitute a continuation of the same crime and willfully disobeyed a court order and was convicted to 15 months in prison suspended for three years for failure to comply with a court order.

However, the prescribed penalty for non-compliance with a court order is imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine.