Portuguese court returns adopted child to Russian mother

The Russian woman Natalya Zarubina gave birth to a baby girl in Portugal in April 2003. The woman, who was living in Portugal illegally, was later deported from the country. A court granted parental rights to a Portuguese couple, who had looked after the child since she was 17 months old. The court later upheld Zarubina's request for her daughter to be returned. An appeal by the Portuguese family was rejected. Zarubina and her daughter, who does not speak Russian, will spend two days in the Russian embassy in Lisbon before returning to Moscow on May 20. They will later return to the Yaroslavl Region which borders the Moscow Region. The Portuguese foster family said they would lodge appeals with various European courts, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.