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From: holman@elo.helsinki.fi (Eugene Holman)
Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Caught and deported: French Nazi collaborator meets sticky end
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 20:55:16 +0300
Organization: University of Helsinki
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Source:
http://www12.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-france-.html

All rights reserved. Posted for educational use only.
*****************************************************************
October 22, 1999


Swiss Quickly Extradite Papon To France


REUTERS INDEX | INTERNATIONAL | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY 


Filed at 1:13 p.m. EDT

By Reuters

BERNE (Reuters) - Switzerland quickly extradited Nazi collaborator Maurice
Papon to France Friday to send a clear message that it would not harbor war
criminals, Swiss Justice Minister Ruth Metzler said. 

``With this decision the Federal Council (cabinet) wants to show that
Switzerland is no refuge for someone condemned for crimes against
humanity,'' Metzler told reporters. 

Swiss police seized the 89-year-old fugitive Thursday evening in a hotel in
the mountainous Bernese Oberland in German-speaking Switzerland on a French
arrest warrant. He had registered under a false name after arriving
Saturday. 

The Swiss cabinet met in special session to decide how to handle Papon's
case. Swiss law does not recognize crimes against humanity, but Metzler
said this would soon change. 

The cabinet based its decision on a 1965 agreement with France on
repatriating citizens and Article 70 on the Swiss constitution, which
allows the cabinet to expel foreigners who endanger Swiss security, Metzler
said. 

``The implementation of a formal extradition process is not necessary in
this decision by the cabinet. The cabinet clearly wanted to expel Mr Papon
as quickly as possible,'' she said.

A helicopter whisked Papon from a hospital in Berne to the French town of
Pontarlier, where he was handed over to French authorities. A doctor and
Swiss police accompanied him. 

Swiss Federal Police Chief Urs von Daeniken was asked if Papon could choose
where he wished to go. 

``Mr Papon had no choice at all,'' he answered. 

A French court sentenced the former Vichy official to 10 years in jail in
1998 for helping deport Jews to Nazi camps, and he had been on the run to
escape jail for crimes against humanity. 

Swiss police officials said Papon was carrying 19,000 French francs
($3,101), 3,000 Swiss francs ($2,011) and some U.S. dollars in cash plus
three passports -- two of them in his own name -- when he was taken into
custody. 

He had been held in the prison ward of Berne's Inselspital hospital before
being expelled.

-- 
Regards,
Eugene Holman

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