American Father Goes on Hunger Strike Over Missing Son in Kazakhstan

American citizen Guillaume Garreau has begun a hunger strike outside the prosecutor’s office in Almaty. He says he has spent more than two years trying to recover his son, whom his former wife allegedly took from the United States to Kazakhstan and failed to bring back, Orda.kz reports.

Garreau told the New York Post that he would continue the hunger strike until the Kazakh authorities disclosed the whereabouts of his four-year-old son, Maximilien, and enforced court orders requiring the child’s return.

I am doing this not because I want to, but because I am a parent who has been left with no other way to make the authorities hear that my child is still missing and that every day without action is another day of suffering for me and for him.

Garreau claims Kazakh authorities located the boy in July. He said the child was severely distressed and required medical attention. The mother and son allegedly disappeared again afterward.

The Kazakh-language edition of Orda.kz previously reported that Almaty police opened a search case on October 16, 2025. Police said the search for the woman and child was continuing.

According to Garreau’s lawyer, a criminal case was opened against the woman under Article 430 of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code, which concerns failure to comply with a court ruling. She was also placed on an international wanted list.

How the Dispute Began

Guillaume Garreau and Sana Onayeva met in the United States in 2019 and married the following year. Their son, Maximilien, was born in 2021 and was later diagnosed with autism.

The couple began divorce proceedings in 2023 and accused each other of violence. A U.S. court ultimately awarded Garreau sole custody but later allowed Onayeva to take the boy temporarily to Kazakhstan.

She was required to return by March 30, 2024, and maintain contact between the child and his father. Garreau says she did neither.

A U.S. court subsequently ordered the boy’s return and issued a warrant for Onayeva’s arrest. The Almaty Juvenile Court also ordered the child’s return in November 2024. That ruling took effect in January 2025 but could not be enforced because the mother and child could not be located.

Interpol joined the search in September 2025. Orda.kz previously examined the legal dispute and both sides’ positions. At the time, the newsroom was unable to obtain comment from Onayeva or her representatives.

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