Kelly Rutherford Says Judge's Order to Return Kids to Monaco is 'Shocking, Illegal and Abusive'

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On Tuesday, a New York Supreme Court judge ordered actress Kelly Rutherford to return her two children to their father, Daniel Giersch, in Monaco.

A day later, Rutherford responded to the decision of the court with a lengthy, withering statement, calling it "shocking, illegal, and abusive to my children."

"Without any legal authority, a judge from the lowest ranking court in the state court system violated the highest ranking federal constitutional rights of my American citizen children," Rutherford wrote Wednesday.

WATCH: Kelly Rutherford Ordered by Judge to Return Her Kids to Monaco

The 46-year-old former Gossip Girl actress called out Judge Ellen Gesmer, who presided over the hearing, and criticized her ruling as "irrational."

"Judge Ellen Gesmer effectively arrested my children, claiming she had authority under habeas corpus to take them into custody because of a foreign country's court order," Rutherford said, going on to argue that Gesmer had no legal authority to enforce a foreign nation's court order "unless and until the foreign order is 'registered' in the United States, which Rutherford claims is not the case.

"Knowing she had no authority, Judge Gesmer seized my children and their U.S. passports, and forced them to leave the United States and reside in Monaco, a country where neither they nor I, nor even their father, has citizenship," Rutherford continued.

The order came days after Rutherford released a statement declaring that she had no intention of flying her children back, regardless of an agreement she made with the court in Monaco, arguing, "No state in this country is currently protecting my children."

MORE: Kelly Rutherford Says She Will Not Return Her Children to Monaco

Rutherford and her ex-husband have been locked in a bitter custody battle over their two children -- 8-year-old son Hermes and 6-year-old daughter Helena -- since they divorced in 2010, after two years of marriage.

In 2012, a California judge awarded them joint custody, but sent the children to live with Giersch, a German businessman, in Monaco, due to his American visa getting revoked. Rutherford flew back and forth to see her children many times in the following years.

In June, Rutherford was allowed to take her children back to the U.S. for the summer, on the condition that the children be returned to Monaco at the end of the appointed stay. The mother-of-two was supposed to fly her kids back to Monaco last Thursday, but refused to do so.

In her latest public statement, Rutherford also criticized her ex-husband for failing to appear in court during the most recent hearing.

"The children's father didn't care enough about his children to be here himself," Rutherford wrote. "Contrary to his many false claims, he, like all German citizens, can come to this country anytime on his German passport. But he didn't bother."

WATCH: Hollywood's Most Nuclear Divorces

However, Giersch's mother did appear in court, as well as Giersch's legal representatives.

"I did my best to comfort the children, but there are no words to help children understand why a judge would be so cruel," Rutherford added.

According to Rutherford, she and her legal counsel approached the State Department, who, she claimed, told her "there was nothing any federal official could do."

Rutherford went on to detail a number of arguments regarding the court's lack of authority in the case, and she concluded her statement with a message for Judge Gesmer.

"Judge Gesmer lacked the capacity, the will or the knowledge to do the right thing, but I will continue to fight for my children, and one day I will land in the courtroom of a decent judge. My children ask me all the time if I am still fighting for them, and I always tell them the day will never come when I say 'no.'" Rutherford shared. "As for Judge Gesmer, she has to live with herself, and if she has a conscience, I suspect she will not sleep well, ever again."

WATCH: Kelly Rutherford on Battle to Get Her Kids Back: 'It's Cost Me Everything I've Ever Made'

Giersch's lawyer, Fahi Takesh Hallin, released a statement to ET on Tuesday praising the latest decision.

"We are pleased that the American judicial system has prevailed," the statement read. "Daniel's request to exclude the press today from the courtroom was granted, to protect the children's privacy. In addition, his stance of promoting Kelly's time with the children has not changed."

Hallin and Giersch have not yet responded to Rutherford's latest public statement.

For more on this latest development in Rutherford's protracted legal battle, check out the video below.

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