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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Mexican Supreme Court Frees French Woman Accused Of Kidnapping

Matt Pressberg |
January 23, 2013 | 6:57 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

The Mexican Supreme Court freed a French woman accused of kidnapping (Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons)
The Mexican Supreme Court freed a French woman accused of kidnapping (Thelmadatter/Wikimedia Commons)
The highest court in Mexico decided Wednesday to free a French woman from prison after ruling that her rights under the law had been violated when police staged a re-enactment of her arrest for a television show.

Florence Cassez, who had been imprisoned for seven years after her 2005 arrest, was accused of being involved in a kidnapping operation run by a gang called the Zodiacs, led by her then-boyfriend Israel Vallarta, according to the AFP. This case had strained relations between the two countries, with president of France Francois Hollande welcoming the decision as "the end of a particularly painful period."

In a three-to-two decision, the Mexican Supreme Court voted for Cassez's immediate release. All five justices were in agreement that Cassez's rights had been violated by the staged police operation, which had come after Cassez was arrested at a roadside stop and detained by law enforcement before being forcibly made to participate in the false raid, but two preferred to send the case back to the lower courts.

While Cassez's attorney called the decision "a historic day for Mexican justice," perceptions in Mexico that violent criminals often walk with impunity made it a day of anger for anti-kidnapping activists and families of victims. As Cassez was driven to the airport in a police convoy, bound for Paris, relatives of kidnapping victims greeted her with shouts of "killer!", according to the Houston Chronicle.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of Mexico here.

Reach Executive Producer Matt Pressberg here.



 

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