The Guadalajara Reporter

Cassez freed: Judges order release of jailed Frenchwoman

Bringing a high-profile case and seven years of controversy to a close, Mexico’s Supreme Court has ordered the immediate release of a Frenchwoman serving 60 years in prison for kidnapping.

In a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, the justices ruled that the rights of Florence Cassez, 38, were seriously violated at the time of her arrest in December 2005.  Judge Olga Sanchez Codero stressed that ruling has no bearing on her innocence or guilt.

Cassez admits being the girlfriend of the leader of a kidnapping gang but says she did not know about three abducted victims he was holding captive in a ranch where they were both living.

The judges agreed that televised footage of her arrest – actually staged a day later by a TV company in collaboration with police – had tainted the case against her.  They also dismissed other key evidence used against her.

Cassez was also denied proper consular assistance at the time of her arrest, the judges noted.

The Supreme Court heard her case in March 2012, but only two of the five judges at that time voted for her release.

In the latest deliberation, Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz Mena, who has served as a Supreme Court justice for scarcely two months, voted in favor of the Frenchwoman’s  release.

The “Affaire Cassez,” as the French media coined her case, has soured Mexico’s relations with France for the past few years.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy gave Cassez and her family his staunch support and tried unsuccessfully to get Cassez repatriated to serve her sentence in France.

French President Francois Hollande has been more reserved in his statements on the case but welcomed Wednesday’s decision.

“France thanks everyone who has made sure that truth and justice prevail,” he said Wednesday.

President Felipe Calderon had opposed the release of Cassez, preferring to take the side of victims’ organizations that lobbied hard for Cassez to serve her full sentence.

The decision did not sit well with Ezequiel Elizalde, one of the victims who testified against Cassez after spending 65 days in captivity at the hands of the Zodiac gang, led by the Frenchwoman’s boyfriend Israel Vallarta.

“Mexico is a s__t country with s__t institutions,” he told reporters angrily. He asked if Mexican judges were now going to allow all kidnappers to walk out of jail.

“I’m telling all Mexicans to arm themselves. Go get a gun and don’t pay any attention to the government.”

Legislators from both the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) criticized the Supreme Court’s decision.

PAN Senator Roberto Gil Zuarth said it was a”sad day for Mexico, not because of the judges’ ruling, but because the victims are left without justice.”

Isabel Miranda de Wallace, founder of Organización Civil Alto al Secuestro and whose son was killed by kidnappers, called the decision “fixed” and said the judges “chose the worst case they could to send a message about respecting human rights.”

The release of Cassez less than two months after Enrique Peña Nieto assumed the Mexican presidency may raise renewed questions over the independence of the judicial and executive branches.

The decision also brought calls for speedier reforms to Mexico’s justice system, including the widespread implementation of oral trials and a court/jury system more similar in style to other western nations.

Cassez’s father Bernard accompanied his daughter back to France after her release from the women’s prison in Mexico City at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Three hours later Cassez was aboard an Air France flight heading for Paris.  Her mother, sister and friends met her at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, along with a large number of reporters and photographers. She was expected to have an audience with Hollande later in the day.

“I’m crazy with joy. I still can’t believe it,” Cassez’s mother Charlotte told reporters.

On her arrival in Paris, Cassez said her release was “a great victory for Mexicans. My story in not the only one. I am going to fight for those in the same position. This has set a precedent.”