After repeated calls from the French government to allow convicted kidnapper Florence Cassez to be returned to France to face justice, President Calderón finally made the call that Cassez will serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico. Cassez was arrested in 2005 at a ranch near Mexico City where three kidnapping victims, one of them eight years old, were freed after two months of captivity. She admits being at the ranch, but insists that she was only dating one of the perpetrators. One of the victims, however, has identified her as one of his captors. Cassez’s case stirred much controversy in France and Mexico after it became known that police re-enacted her arrest for the news media.
While representatives of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Convergencia agreed that the decision was fair, they also made known their suspicions that Calderón, whose National Action Party ran largely on a law and order platform, acted on electoral motivations. Convergencia deputy Alejandro Chanona expressed his satisfaction that Cassez will not be returned to France where her sentence could be reduced or commuted entirely, but questioned the timing of Calderón’s decision, only two weeks before the July 5 midterm elections. The maximum sentence in France for kidnapping is 30 years.
From the July Justice in Mexico Project’s Monthly News Report:
http://www.justiceinmexico.org/news/recent_news.php
SOURCES:
Gibbs, Stephen. “’No extradition’ for kidnap woman.” BBC News June 23, 2009.
“Caso Florence Cassez con tintes electorales: PRD y Convergencia.” Notimex June 23, 2009.
