An American woman, who sent her adopted son back to Russia, has hauled Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov to court seeking retraction of a November 24, 2011 article he wrote in the 'Rossiiskaya Gazeta' government daily.
The lawsuit filed by Torry Hansen in Moscow's Savelovsky Court also seeks damages for the article, Astakhov said on Thursday.
"The essence of the lawsuit is that I call Hansen an adoptive mother, while she wants me to call her Artyom Savelyev's former adoptive mother," Astakhov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.
"I'm glad a lawsuit was filed by Torry Hansen against me and the Rossiiskaya Gazeta. I'll gladly meet her and request that she visits Russia and the court," he added.
Hansen was living in Tennessee in April 2010 when she put Artyom Savelyev, then aged seven, on a flight back to his native Russia unaccompanied with a note saying she did not want him because he was "psychotic."
Astakhov said Russia would seek child support payments from Hansen in accordance with a U.S. court ruling. "We will try to make her pay the cost of Artyom's support, nothing more," he said.
According to the ombudsman's estimates, the boy's stay in a group home costs 42,000 rubles (over $1,400) not including psychological treatment costing 27,000 rubles (over $900) per month.
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