The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 9-year-old Brazilian boy at the center of an international custody battle will not be allowed to testify about whether he wants to remain with relatives in Brazil or join his American father.
Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes ruled against the habeas corpus petition filed by the boy's Brazilian grandmother, Silvana Bianchi. She argued the boy should be heard before being returned to his biological father, David Goldman.
A Brazilian judge last month ruled that the boy be handed over to Goldman in the United States, but a Supreme Court justice suspended that decision after receiving a petition from a political party arguing that removing the boy from his current family environment would hurt him. Another judge at a lower court said the boy must remain with his stepfather in Brazil until a final ruling.
Goldman's Brazilian wife, Bruna Bianchi, took the boy to Brazil in 2004. She later married a Brazilian lawyer and died last year during the birth of a daughter.