A Dutch judge has ruled that a couple who took their premature baby from a Paris hospital will remain in detention, pending a decision on their extradition to France.
The child, identified only as Santiago, was born eight weeks premature and was found with his parents in Amsterdam on Friday, following a large-scale international search operation.
The Amsterdam District Court stated, 'The two persons suspected of abducting a French baby appeared before a judge today who decided that they must remain in custody.'
French authorities issued a kidnapping alert and European arrest warrants for the couple after they removed Santiago, who required constant medical care, from a hospital in a Paris suburb.
The Dutch public prosecution service added, 'Their extradition is being sought by France.' Both parents have opted for a 'shortened legal process' which will be heard within the next 10 days, according to prosecution services spokesman Evert Boerstra.
Boerstra noted that Dutch prosecutors are focused on the couple's extradition and 'not the case itself for which France wanted them to be extradited.'
Santiago's parents, aged 23 and 25, took their child from the neo-natal unit at the Robert Ballanger hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois, northeast of Paris, just 17 days after his birth.
Belgian authorities have also been involved in the search, as it is believed that Santiago's parents fled from France to Belgium before reaching the Netherlands.
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