Chad kidnappers jailed for eight years after Paris trial
Monday, 28 Jan 2008 17:50
Six French aid workers convicted of trying to kidnap 103 children from Chad last year sentenced to eight years in prison.
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Six French charity workers convicted of trying to kidnap 103 children from Chad last year have been sentenced to eight years in prison.
The six members of the group Zoe's Ark had been sentenced to eight years' hard labour in Chad last month, but have been repatriated to France after the two nations struck a diplomatic deal.
The group claimed they were rescuing orphans from the
Darfur, the war-torn region of Sudan close to Chad's eastern border.
Zoe's Ark founder Eric Breteau, his partner Emilie Lelouch, volunteer firefighter Dominique Aubry, logistics chief Alain Peligat, nurse Nadia Merimi and doctor Philippe van Winkelberg had professed their innocence at the original trial in Ndjamena, Chad, claiming they had been misled into believing the children were war refugees from Darfur.
The six were detained on October 25th 2007 and sentenced to eight years' hard labour but were later returned to France where the lack of such a sentence necessitated the new hearing at the court in the Parisian suburb of Creiteil.
Today's sentencing was passed after the court ruled the case amounted to "detention and sequestration of minors under 15 years of age", and converted the Chadian sentences into French law, without reviewing the verdict of the initial trial.
Gilbert Collard, Mr Breteau's lawyer, was quoted by the AFP news agency as calling today's sentencing "unjust".
"The only solution is to appeal and to hope that [President Nicolas] Sarkozy gets involved," he added.