Overview
- Rivas was summoned to declare before Investigative Court No. 4 in Granada over an alleged unlawful retention of her 11-year-old after a Christmas visit from Italy.
- The judge rejected the defense’s bid to record and distribute Rivas’s statement and restricted any video access to the courthouse, citing risks of further exposure to the child and referencing July’s media scene at the Family Meeting Point.
- Defense lawyer Carlos Aránguez had said Rivas would answer only his questions, yet the court proceeding allows questioning by the magistrate, prosecutors and the father’s counsel.
- The case stems from an Italian appeals court order directing the boy’s return to his father, which the complainant argues was enforceable in Spain under EU rules.
- The child was handed back on July 25 and now lives with his father in Carloforte, while a separate, early-stage investigation in Cagliari into alleged mistreatment by the father remains open.