Nazi collaborator loses appeal
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Papon has angered relatives of Nazi victims by saying he had done nothing wrong and had no regrets.
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PARIS, France (Reuters) -- French Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon lost an appeal for a retrial on Thursday, but won another chance in three months' time to have his conviction for sending Jews to death camps during World War II overturned.
A legal commission rejected the appeal by the 93-year-old former government minister, who was freed on health grounds in 2002, but ordered France's highest court to hold a technical legal review of his sentence in May, legal officials said.
Legal experts said the review could lead to a retrial for Papon because of a technicality but was more likely to rule it out once and for all.
"It is very unlikely he will succeed," one expert said.
Justice Minister Dominique Perben said Thursday's decision would not prejudge the outcome of the May review or affect "what everyone thinks about what happened during the war and Mr Papon's role."
Papon was found guilty in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity but was freed on health grounds after serving three years of a 10-year sentence that he began only in 1999.
Papon's lawyers are trying to show the court was wrong to reject an appeal he made in October 1999 when he had fled to Switzerland instead of going to prison. He was quickly found travelling under an assumed name and returned to France.
Papon, who was not present when Thursday's decision was announced, has denied any wrongdoing despite his conviction for his wartime role as prefect of the southwestern region of Gironde under the collaborationist Vichy leadership.
He said during his trial that he knew nothing of the fate of the Jews who were deported during that period and portrayed himself as helping the anti-Nazi resistance.
Papon went on to have a successful political career after the war and was budget minister when his past caught up with him in 1981. His appeal has turned the spotlight back on a man and a period that most French people would rather forget.
After years of silence, Papon angered relatives of victims of the Nazis last week by saying in a magazine interview that he had done nothing wrong and had no regrets.
"Papon said he had had no remorse and no regrets and I think that the man is still as ... revanchist as ever," Michel Slitinsky, a representative of a group which wants Papon sent back to jail, said after Thursday's ruling.
But one of Papon's lawyers, Francis Vuillemin, said: "Maurice Papon, who is already free, is today presumed innocent. He must be able to benefit from a new trial. Little of his conviction remains and we are going to ensure nothing remains of it."
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
