ST.-PETERSBURG, June 15 - RAPSI. The Finnish Vaasa Appeals Court has rejected Rimma Salonen's request for parental custody of her son Anton, who was taken from Russia in a diplomat's car trunk three years ago, her representative Johan Baeckman told RIA Novosti on Friday.

She challenged the authorities' decision to appoint her ex-husband Paavo Salonen, 70, as their son's sole guardian.

The conflict between Paavo and Rimma Salonen occurred several years after they divorced. In 2008, Rimma Salonen took her son to Russia and was then deprived by a Finnish court of custody in absentia. However, several people, including Paavo Salonen, assaulted her and kidnapped Anton in spring 2009, Russian law enforcement agencies say. Assisted by Finnish diplomat Simo Pietilainen, Paavo Salonen illegally took the child back to Finland.

Rimma Salonen returned to Finland where she was given an 18-month suspended sentence in October 2009 for illegally taking her son to Russia.

Paavo Salonen and Pietilainen avoided criminal liability in Finland for kidnapping Anton.

Finnish prosecutors terminated the case against them without filing charges in March 2011. The Russian Foreign Ministry then stated that it was perplexed by the decision.