Report: Deported family hides son, 9, in bid to stay
In a desperate attempt to avoid deportation, the Armenian family Simonyan from Amersfoort hid their 9 year old son in some unknown location last week. This failed, the family is being deported on Wednesday without the boy. But the child is still missing.
The boy Hrant was last seen on October 21st around 4:00 p.m at football training KVVA, AD reports. When the marechaussee, the military police, went to pick up his mother, father and brother from the asylum center to take them to the detention center in Zeist, Hrant was not with them.
Foundation Samen Veilig Midden-Nederland reported him as missing to the police."We received a report that the boy's whereabouts are unknown so it is unclear whether he is in a safe situation", spokesperson Joost Lanshage said to AD. "We are required to sound the alarm with the authorities.
With an urgent procedure the family's lawyer, Saskia den Boer, tried to stop their deportation on Wednesday, but with no success. The court in Roermond ruled on Tuesday morning that the family will be put on a plane. Justice State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff's policy is that families are not to be separated at deportation. But the judge ruled that this case is different because the family deliberately removed the boy from their custody to frustrate the deportation process.
The judge took into account that during the transfer to the detention center last week, the family said they knew the whereabouts of their son. The father also admitted to the authorities that he deliberately kept his son away from the asylum center last Wednesday.
The family's lawyer claims that the father is seriously disturbed and suffering from a psychiatric condition. The man can not say where little Hrant is, his story ranges from "somewhere near a playground in the forest" to "in Groningen."
The fact is that a 9 year old boy is still missing and the police in Midden-Nederland are desperately searching for him. Police spokesperson Cornelie Hoogeveen told AD that there has been no reason to ask the public to keep an eye out for the boy, despite the fact that he's been missing for a week. "The team still has plenty of leads in their hands."
