Brazil's top court halts boy's return to U.S. dad

The justice system in Brazil is quite proud of themselves. It's like they enjoy drawing out a solvable situation. < :-)

This would be somewhat understandable if the battle was between biological parents, but in this case the mother is dead. Brazil is overstepping the lines here. The boy should be with his father.

I also think the boy should be with his father. His mother abducted him in the first place, died and now the stepfather is trying to keep him. Maybe there's some anti-Americanism thing at work - or simply a "non-Brazilians are heathens" kind of thing going, like in international abduction cases to Japan.

"the boy will be in Brazil at least until Feb. 1, following the justices’ return from a recess"

Jesus, and I thought the French were a lazy bunch of sods. Two months recess?

Be careful where you go with this one, this must be one seriously smart 10 year old to have come up with the idea of getting his opinion put before the court.

Yeah, right, I can just see this poor kid being rehearsed over the next two months as to what he needs to say in court. And I get the feeling the Brazilian judge is enjoying being the centre of attention. Making him a Brazilian hero fighting against the big bad Americans.

I feel sorry for both the father and son.

This article misses some important, and pivotal, points which my Brazilian boyfriend told me:

This judge is very controversial, loves the spotlight, and his decisions are not the wisest ones. He's friends with current President Lula da Silva, who is chavist and was elected vowing he would make Brazil to get rid of the "American imperialism" (eyes rolling here), so you see what this judge was thinking when he took his decision. The Brazilian side of Sean's family, Lins e Silva, is one of the most influential in the Justice system - his grandfather Evandro Lins e Silva was considered one of the best lawyers Brazil ever had.

So, not an easy task for Sean's father. My boyfriend tells me that all his friends and everybody he knows think that Sean should return to US, to his father. As you can see, it's only one man's decision that has created so much suffering for him and his father.

Most Brazilians side with the American father, so no Brazilian hero for the judge.