Uncle refuses to hand over Iruan

The uncle of Taiwanese-Brazilian boy Iruan Ergui Wu (吳憶樺) refused yesterday to comply with a court order demanding the boy be returned to his Brazilian grandmother, Rosa Ergui.

Kaohsiung Judge Liao Cheng-hsiung (廖正雄) gave a new deadline of 11am Monday for the uncle, Wu Huo-yen (吳火眼), to return the boy

"The Wus will have to bring Iruan to the Kaohsiung District Court in person," Liao said.

Liao, accompanied by court clerks, police officers and Brazil Business Center Director Paulo Pinto, arrived at Wu's Kaohsiung residence yesterday morning to receive the boy.

Pinto was acting as Ergui's legal representative.

When the group arrived, Wu Huo-yen refused to hand over the boy, insisting that Ergui should have come to Taiwan to pick him up.

Wu Huo-yen's lawyer, Wu Chiu-li (吳邱麗), said the family had not received the official court order indicating that the deadline was yesterday, arguing that the legal process in advance of the handover was incomplete and that they did not have to follow the order.

Liao gave a new deadline of Monday and handed another official notice to Wu Huo-yen, which he refused to sign.

According to Liao, if the family fails to hand over the boy by the new deadline, Wu Huo-yen will be arrested and put in jail until Iruan is escorted to Brazil.

Liao has the option to fine the Wu family NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 should they resist attempts to repatriate the boy and has the power to order police to use force to take Iruan.

The refusal to comply with the court order demanding Iruan's return upset Pinto.

"This is absurd. Are you kidding me or what?" he said.

Pinto was supposed to pick up Iruan and take an evening flight to Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The Kaohsiung District Court said the official notice was mailed on Dec. 23 last year and was signed by Wu Huo-yen's sister-in-law, Chen Hsiu-yen (陳秀燕).

To ensure that Wu Huo-yen received the notice, the court mailed another official notice on Jan. 5 to the local police station and officers delivered the notice to Wu Huo-yen in person.

According to the Civil Code, judges are authorized to carry out a court order 11 to 30 days after the arrival of the official notice. The period ended Thursday night.

In addition to claiming that he did not receive official notice from the court, Wu Huo-yen said he wants to see two things happen.

"We hope that Ergui can come in person. If she has monetary problems, we are more than happy to help. If not, we hope that we can ask somebody we know to escort Iruan back to Brazil. We will be worried if we turn him over to someone we barely know," Wu Huo-yen said.

Meanwhile, Javier Hou (侯清山), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Central and South American Affairs, said the Taiwan Catholic Mission Foundation (天主教博愛基金會) has agreed to sponsor Wu Huo-yen for a round-trip to Brazil so he can escort Iruan.