The trial for a woman who “hid” her daughter in Spain amidst a custody battle with her ex-husband began Wednesday, the latest in an international dispute that has baffled attorneys, judges and diplomats.

“This is not a custody case,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Carol Novey-Catuogno told jurors as the trial of Maria Jose Carrascosa opened in Superior Court in Hackensack. “This is a criminal case.”

Carrascosa, the daughter of a wealthy Spanish businessman,  faces up to 10 years in prison on the rare charge of “interference with custody.” The native of Spain has been held on contempt of court at the Bergen County Jail for more than three years for violating a Family Court order that requires her to return the child to Bergen County.

Her incarceration – a legal mechanism that was meant to be brief and coercive rather than prolonged and punitive – has not produced results as Carrascosa remained defiant.

“If God chose me to die in jail to protect my child, then I will have to do that,” she told The Record last year in a phone interview from the jail.

During an oral argument in 2007, one appellate judge in Morristown wondered how long Carrascosa can be held in contempt. The prolonged court battle has cost Carrascosa and her family more than $1 million in legal fees, but all levels of state and federal courts in the United States have upheld the order that is keeping her behind bars.

Meanwhile, U.S. Department of State officials and Superior Court judges in Hackensack have held meetings with their counterparts in Spain in pursuit of a settlement that remains elusive.

Carrascosa now faces time in state prison if convicted of eight counts of custody interference and one count of contempt of court.

Carrascosa lived in Hudson County in 1999 when she met Peter Innes. The couple married in 1999 after a brief courtship. They separated five years later, ending a marriage that produced a daughter, Victoria.

While a custody dispute was ongoing in family court in Hackensack, Carrascosa took her daughter to Spain, angering a judge who gave her 10 days to return the child.

Innes, who was the first witness on the stand Wednesday, said he had signed a parenting agreement with Carrascosa that prohibited either parent from taking the child out of the country. Innes also obtained an order from a judge in Hackensack that granted him custody of Victoria.

Carrascosa and her attorneys, meanwhile, maintain that New Jersey courts have no authority to issue such orders. They argue that, under international treaties, jurisdiction over the case lies in Spanish courts.

One Spanish court ordered that Victoria cannot leave Spain until she is 18 years old. Carrascosa says that makes it impossible for her to comply with the Bergen County judge’s ruling that requires Victoria’s return.

“You will hear evidence on whether or not [Carrascosa] has the ability to comply with the orders,” defense attorney Scott Finckenauer said during his opening statement on Wednesday. “You will hear testimony that this child cannot leave Spain until she is 18.”

Novey-Catuogno told jurors that Carrascosa’s decision to ignore court orders, conceal the child from Innes and take Victoria overseas away from her custodial father, was a crime under state law.

Finckenauer asked jurors to focus on why Carrascosa is not bringing the child back to Bergen County.

“For what reason was she making this decision?” he said. “And does that make her a criminal? Does it make her a bad parent, or a good parent?”

Carrascosa is expected to take the witness stand and testify in her own defense as the trial continues today before Judge Donald R. Venezia.

E-mail: markos@northjersey.com