A woman went into hiding in Spain for two months with her two minor sons to prevent the children from being vaccinated against corona.
The 46-year-old woman has now turned herself in to authorities and was arrested by a judge’s order, the newspaper El Pais and other media reported on the authority of judicial circles.
The entanglements surrounding the Seville family made headlines in Spain for weeks and caused a stir. Then, in a dispute between the parents, who are divorced, the court ruled in favour of the father, who wants to have the children vaccinated. The mother, a teacher, had disappeared without a trace on November 4, 2021, with her sons, aged 12 and 14.
In December, the father filed a complaint against his ex. The kidnapping of own children in Spain carries a prison sentence of up to four years. According to media reports, the custody rights were taken from the mother after she went into hiding.
The arrest reportedly happened on Wednesday. In a conversation with El País, the woman’s lawyer criticized her detention. “There is no flight risk,” he said. In December, the lawyer had defended his client’s opposition to the vaccination. The lawyer told the newspaper that the vaccine has “numerous serious side effects”, the lawyer told the newspaper. However, experts assure that children tolerate the vaccines well.
According to official figures, a third of the 3.3 million children aged 5 to 11 years old have already been vaccinated for the first time in Spain.