| COMMUNITY |
| Message Boards Chat Feedback |
| SITE SOURCES |
| Contents Help! Search CNN Networks |
| SPECIALS |
| Quick News Almanac Video Vault News Quiz |
 |
|
|
Jury reaches verdict in Papon war crimes trial
April 2, 1998
Web posted at: 2:09 a.m. EST (0709 GMT)BORDEAUX, France (CNN) - Lawyers in the crimes against humanity trial of former Vichy official Maurice Papon said on Thursday they had been summoned to the courtroom, signalling the jury had reached a verdict.
Papon is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity during World War II. The 87-year-old defendant is accused of ordering the arrest for deportation of 1,560 Jews, including 223 children, in 1942-1944 when he was the Vichy collaborationist regime's number two official in the Bordeaux region and supervisor of its Service for Jewish Questions.
The trial, which began on October 8, is the longest in French history. The nine-member jury and three judges began their deliberations Wednesday afternoon after Papon, in a final emotional speech to the court, denied all charges against him and blamed the proceedings for the death last week of his wife of 66 years.
The lawyers said the reading of the judgment could take as long as an hour even after the defendant and the various lawyers had assembled in court. The jury had been asked to consider more than 700 questions raised during the trial.
Relatives read signs bearing the names of victims who disappeared from the Bordeaux region Papon's alleged crimes date back to the Nazi occupation of France, faced a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.
The state prosecutor in the case recommended that Papon be given a 20-year prison term, although life imprisonment is the legal norm for crimes against humanity.
Even if he were sentenced to life in jail, Papon would not actually go to jail until his appeals are exhausted, which could take years.
"The accusations are false and this trial is a fake," he said. "In the absence of incontestable evidence, a judicial monster has been constructed," he said, describing the proceedings as "an unprecedented media pillorying made up of lies, insults and infamy with the aim of inflaming public opinion."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Papon's Nazi war-crimes trial goes to jury - April 1, 1998
- War crimes trial ordered for French Vichy official - September 18, 1996
- French war criminal Touvier dies in jail at 81 - July 18, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Simon Wiesenthal Center - an international center for Holocaust remembrance and the defense of human rights and the Jewish people
- B'nai B'rith Interactive - Web site of the World's Largest Jewish Organization
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Sound off on our message boards & chat |
|
© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.