ABDUCTED TO SWITZERLAND
		THESE ARE MY SONS, THEY HAVE BEEN  TAKEN TO SWITZERLAND AND I HAVE NOT SEEN THEM IN OVER THREE YEARS.  THE SWISS GOVERNMENT HAS VIOLATED THE HAGUE CONVENTION ON THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION AND HAS CONDONED THEIR KIDNAPPING.
		My name is Stephen Knuttel.  I am the father of Andreas and Martin Knuttel who were abducted to Switzerland in August of 1998 by my Swiss born wife.  I am an American citizen, born and raised in this country. My oldest son, Andreas, was born in Switzerland in 1985 and my youngest son Martin was born in the United States in 1989.  The habitual domicile of my family has been in America since 1986.  My wife of some 17 years of marriage went back to Switzerland with the children in July of 1998 for her annual summer visit to see her parents and failed to return to the states in August.  She then informed me that she was not coming back to America and had filed for a divorce in the Swiss court system. After my wife informed me that she was not coming home with my boys, I filed for a legal separation in California and started the process of having my boys returned. My first reaction was to go to the local police. They only told me there was nothing they could do because "no crime had been committed".  They told me that since I didn't have a custody order for my boys the law could not help me. With time I was made aware of the "Hague Convention On The Civil Aspects Of International Child Abduction" and retained Mr. William M. Hilton, a noted expert with the Hague Treaty.  Mr. Hilton's first advice to me was to try to make some kind of legal compromise with my wife since the Swiss were a very conservative people and they have a very poor record of compliance with the Hague Treaty.  When all attempt to compromise failed, I filed the Hague application and received an illegal removal and retention order from the State of California.  But, with the time spent trying to compromise and the delays with the American court system establishing legal jurisdiction and getting an illegal removal and retention order signed, I had lost valuable time.  It was almost a year before my Hague application was filed in Switzerland.  My case was further complicated by the difficulty finding proper legal representation in Switzerland to deal only with the Hague issues and not the divorce action on going in Switzerland. Aided by a Swiss lawyer, who was a personal friend of my wife, the actions by the Swiss Court in their divorce case were swift.  Without ever being served or having legal representation in Switzerland, the Swiss totally ignored the legal jurisdiction of the United States, granted my wife a divorce, and granted her a full custody order for my children.  All of which was a clear violation of the Hague Treaty that both Switzerland and the United States had signed. With the illegal actions of the Swiss courts, I found myself in a very awkward position.  My now "ex" was legally divorced from me in Switzerland, but I was still legally married to her in the United States. With the violation by the Swiss courts concerning the Hague Treaty, I turned to the California court system to finalize my divorce and to the FBI and District Attorney's office to file criminal charges in accordance with the 1993 International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act and applicable state laws. Going to the courts in California, I received a custody order for my children and the District Attorney's Office was ordered to assist "with all reasonable efforts to obtain custody" of the children.  Because of complications in the California legal system and the court having lost papers numerous times, it took me almost another year and a half to get a legal divorce from the State of California. In all this time, the District Attorney's Office did nothing except ask for more and more paper work and come up with one excuse after another as to why they were not going to act on my case.  The FBI had a similar reaction and they stated that there was a feeling that Congress did not want them to get involved in International kidnapping cases because of the Hague Treaty.  This is the same Hague Treaty that the Swiss have so clearly violated. With the lack of action by the Distinct Attorney's Office or the U. S. Government to enforce applicable laws, it is unlikely that I will see my boys until they are 18 and they choose to come back on their own.  I just hope that they have not been too badly brainwashed by that time. With the lack of contact, I strongly believe that Parental Alienation Syndrome is very evident with my children. The Hague process does not work and it just takes too long to do anything with it. It is also almost impossible for a single person to afford the overwhelming legal bills that are generated by the legal system. It has been over three years since I took my boys to the airport for the summer vacation they would not return from. The Swiss courts have stated that my boys now want to stay there.  I'm sure this is because they have been cut off from me and they are being told that I have abandoned them.  If anyone can get through to my boys, please tell them that I love them and I want them back in their home in America.