Facts
The case concerns a divorced mother, Gisèle Y., who temporarily took her children into her care, contrary to the court-regulated visitation rights. The father, François X., then filed a criminal complaint for deprivation and withholding of minors. The mother was convicted in the lower instances and filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
The Federal Supreme Court partially overturned the judgment and remanded the case to the lower instance for re-assessment. It concluded that the father might have abusively exercised the right to file a criminal complaint, as he was allegedly previously obstructing the mother's exercise of the visitation rights for an extended period. The Federal Supreme Court required the lower instance to conduct further clarifications on the circumstances under which the father had impeded the mother's visitation rights.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the prohibition of abuse of rights also applies in criminal law and that a criminal complaint can be considered abusive if the complainant has directly caused the criminal act of the perpetrator through their own unlawful conduct.
In the present case, the findings of the lower instance indicated that the father might have impeded the mother's exercise of the…