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CONTACT: MONIQE FASEL VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL PARENTAL KIDNAPPING ACT, DUPES US AGENCIES TO ACT AS ACCESSORIES Maryland, July 30, 2000 -- Christopher recently received court documents that provide incontrovertible evidence that Monique Fasel duped the NCMEC, law enforcement agencies including the FBI, and Maryland courts and attorneys in an elaborate scheme to kidnap Celina (14) and Stephanie (11)Yavelow commencing on September 13, 1999, and culminating with her successful kidnapping of the children on October 21, 1999. The Yavelow teenagers are native-born American citizens who had spent more than half their lives in the United States when they were dragged away shouting, "We are American Citizens! We want to stay in America!" by an Elian Gonsalez-style SWAT team. Fasel is Swiss. The children's father, Christopher Yavelow, is American. No one in the family has any ties to the Netherlands. First it is necessary to understand that the International Parental Kidnapping Act defines kidnapping as removing from the United States or retaining a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights. See the full text of the IPKA below: International Parental Kidnapping Act 18 USC 1204 ' 1204. International parental kidnapping (a) Whoever removes a child from the United States or retains a child (who has been in the United States) outside the United States with intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both. (b) As used in this section (1) the term "child" means a person who has not attained the age of 16 years; and (2) the term "parental rights", with respect to a child, means the right to physical custody of the child (A) whether joint or sole (and includes visiting rights); and (B) whether arising by operation of law, court order, or legally binding agreement of the parties. (c) It shall be an affirmative defense under this section that (1) the defendant acted within the provisions of a valid court order granting the defendant legal custody or visitation rights and that order was obtained pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and was in effect at the time of the offense; (2) the defendant was fleeing an incidence or pattern of domestic violence; (3) the defendant had physical custody of the child pursuant to a court order granting legal custody or visitation rights and failed to return the child as a result of circumstances beyond the defendant's control, and the defendant notified or made reasonable attempts to notify the other parent or lawful custodian of the child of such circumstances within 24 hours after the visitation period had expired and returned the child as soon as possible. (d) This section does not detract from The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Parental Child Abduction, done at The Hague on October 25, 1980. (Added Dec. 2, 1993, P. L. 103-173, '2(a), 107 Stat. 1998.) At the end of June, 2000, Christopher Yavelow received the court document below clearly indicating that Fasel's intent was to obstruct his lawful exercise of parental rights. The document states that Fasel requested (by way of her lawyer), on October 1, 1999, that all Christopher's access rights to his children be terminated. There was an ex-parte hearing in the Netherlands at which neither parties were present, and the court did strip all Christopher's access rights to his children. The dates are provided as item 1. Fasel's request is given as item 2.1. Thus, Fasel's entire charade in America was clearly with the intent to obstruct Yavelow's parental rights, as was her illegal removal of the children from the United States in violation of a Maryland Court order that ordered a hearing in the matter and in violation of the Hague Convention that mandated a hearing in the matter as well. The following is a Dutch copy indicating the dates. An English translation will follow when we have time to locat a legally certified Dutch-English translator.
It has been more than 9 months since Christopher Yavelow has been able to contact his children. ### For more information:
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