France releases Nazi collaborator

[Guest danielisthor]

Nazi Aide Papon Leaves France Prison

Wed Sep 18, 8:14 AM ET

By KIM HOUSEGO, Associated Press Writer

 

PARIS (AP) - Wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, convicted of sending French Jews to Nazi death camps, was released from prison Wednesday after a court ruled he was too old and sick to serve out his 10-year sentence.

 

 

Papon, 92, emerged from La Sante prison, heavily guarded by dozens of police. His lawyers helped him into a dark Renault sedan. Residents of a nearby apartment building leaned out of windows to watch.

 

The court's decision provoked immediate outpourings of frustration and dismay from Holocaust survivors and others who fought a long battle to bring Papon to justice. Papon was convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity.

 

Now that he is free, Papon plans to "rest, rebuild his health and spend time with family and friends," lawyer Jean-Marc Varaut said.

 

Varaut said his stunned client gathered up his prison belongings, including framed photos of his dead wife and of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, when told Wednesday of the ruling.

 

"He didn't believe it," Varaut said. "I told him he was free. He said: 'How did it happen?'"

 

Papon rose to budget minister after the war, making him the highest-ranking former French official sentenced for collaboration with the Nazis. His six-month trial revived painful memories of France's wartime past.

 

Papon led the Bordeaux area police during the Nazi occupation of France and was convicted in 1998 for signing orders that led to the deportation of 1,690 Jews from Bordeaux from 1942-44. Most were sent to Auschwitz. All but a handful died.

 

Papon's continuing imprisonment had sparked impassioned debate in France about jailing the elderly. Two former French prime ministers were among those who had called for Papon's release.

 

Papon had triple coronary bypass surgery several years ago and had a pacemaker implanted in January 1999.

 

His lawyers have repeatedly pressed for his release because of his poor health. They filed another request over the summer, based on a new provision in French law that allows prisoners to be freed if two independent doctors agree they are suffering from a fatal illness, or their long-term health is jeopardized by remaining behind bars.

 

A court rejected the request on July 24, and Papon's lawyers appealed.

 

The panel of three appeals court judges said it based its decision on the opinion of several doctors who said Papon's health was "incompatible with his remaining in detention."

 

Minutes after the verdict was announced, anti-racism groups and representatives of Holocaust victims' families condemned it.

 

Serge Klarsfeld, a Nazi hunter and historian who helped assemble much of the evidence used at Papon's trial, said the decision to free him "gives a feeling of injustice."

 

"We had fought so that he would stay in prison," Klarsfeld said. "What I hope is that this sick man doesn't turn out to be healthy."

 

Alain Jakubowicz, a lawyer who represented families of Papon's victims at his trial, noted that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the roundup of Jews by France's collaborationist wartime regime. "That's the most important thing, not the release of Maurice Papon."

 

"I simply hope that once released, Maurice Papon will have the decency to shut up and not strut around as he has until now," Jakubowicz said.

 

Before the ruling, French President Jacques Chirac had turned down three requests to pardon Papon. Chirac's Elysee Palace said it had no immediate comment Wednesday.

 

Justice Minister Dominique Perben said the decision was not what the prosecutor, his ministry and he personally had hoped for.

 

"We believed that his continued imprisonment was necessary, taking into account the seriousness of the charges against him," Perben told France-Info radio.

 

Papon will be "totally free to come and go," said Francis Vuillemin, another of Papon's lawyers. Papon will, however, have to inform a judge when he leaves his residence at Gretz-Armainvilliers, outside Paris.

 

The former official fled to Switzerland after his conviction, but was arrested and began serving his sentence in October 1999. Last year, he wrote in a letter to France's justice minister that he felt neither "regrets or remorse" for his acts.

 

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More proof of the anti-semitism of the French Government.

 

The fact this man is responsible for the death of nearly 1700 people is bad enough, the fact he wasn't executed is worse, and releasing the bastard is just plain appalling.

[Guest Rob Edwards]

I don't know, releasing someone into a socity they are hated in and are completley out of touch with could be punishment in itself

[Guest danielisthor]

Are you kidding? In France? I'm surprised he hasn't had a parade in downtown Paris yet. Your talking about a society that doesn't care that jewish temples are burned to the ground or vandalized.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Yep. He'll fit in perfectly.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Too old and sick to see out a jail sentence? They have prison hospitals, don't they?

[Guest danielisthor]

Too old and sick to see out a jail sentence? They have prison hospitals, don't they?

This is another one of those attempts by the French to prove to the rest of the world how caring and better than the rest of the world they are. The man could of pulled the trigger himself on each and every one of those victims and they would of released him. Maybe the Mossad will go in and take care of business.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Seeing how he's in France to begin with, that's prision enough for me...

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Why does this guy have a picture of De Gaulle one of the few French people with backbone.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

The way I see it, he's 92 and about to croak anyway. Who gives a shit?

 

And was I the only one who was hoping they'd elect Le Pen(or whatever the reactionarily right wing dude was named)? I want France to do something that will sour them in the world's eyes. Er, more than it already is. How's about we take their permanent seat on the UN Security Council from them? The other four permanent members are understandable, but France? The only problem with this idea is that I can't think of anyone to replace them except maybe India, and considering their outright hatred of Pakistan, that wouldn't be a good idea.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest The Czech Republic]

It's odd that the country that is so celebrated as being full of spineless yellow-bellied wimps is on a security council.

[Guest danielisthor]

It's odd that the country that is so celebrated as being full of spineless yellow-bellied wimps is on a security council.

ironic isn't it.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

They should send him to prison no matter how old he is. For what he did, he deserves to die in jail. There's absolutely no reason for him to go free.