Portuguese authorities on Tuesday said they would not extradite a mother suspected of abandoning her two children back to France, but left open the possibility she could eventually face trial in her home country.
According to a statement from prosecutors in the southern town of Evora, the 41-year-old Marine R. should first be judged in Portugal for abandonment before possibly being sent to France where she is wanted on other charges.
Last Thursday, an Evora appeals court issued a similar ruling for Marine R.'s partner, a 55-year-old Frenchman.
The couple were charged with "endangering or abandoning a child" and have been held in detention since their arrest last month.
Once all the proceedings initiated by the Portuguese courts have been concluded, which could include a prison sentence, both could be extradited to France, a judicial source close to the case told AFP.
Marc B. has also been charged with "aggravated assault and battery" against one of the two young boys.
The sons, aged four and five, were found on May 19 by a motorist, sitting and crying by the side of a main road about 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Lisbon.
Their mother and her partner were arrested two days later near Fatima, in the centre of the country.
The French authorities had been searching for the mother and children since 11 May, when their disappearance was reported in Colmar, in eastern France.