By
Van Meguerditchian
PARIS:
France’s refusal to release George Ibrahim Abdallah is outrageous, according to
his legal counsel, French attorney Jacque Vergès. In an interview with The
Daily Star at his office near Pigalle in Paris, Vergès – who has represented a
number of notorious defendants such as Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and
Venezuelan terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez (known also as Carlos the Jackal) –
said French authorities have surrendered their decision-making to the Americans
in the case of Abdallah.
The
61-year-old prisoner, a one-time member of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary
Factions, was captured in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the
murder of American Lieutenant Col. Charles Ray and the killing of an Israeli
diplomat, Yacov Barsimentov, in Paris. Supporters of Abdallah maintain that he
has served his sentence and should be released.
Below
is an excerpt of an interview with Vergès.
Q: Why is Lebanese prisoner George Ibrahim Abdallah still
behind bars in France?
A:
French authorities are serving American interests. I have written in several
letters sent to some officials that I don’t want the French judicial system to
behave like a prostitute for the Americans. I have used that word. I sincerely
regret that the Lebanese government is not putting the same pressure on the
French judiciary as the American government does. Should Abdallah’s friends
kidnap another French citizen in Lebanon to get him out of the jail? His
sentence is over now, it’s not illegal to keep him in jail, but it’s
scandalous.
Nelson
Mandela was in jail, it wasn’t illegal to keep him in jail either. France’s top
former intelligence official Yves Bonnet said recently that France broke its
promises when it gave guarantees to free Abdallah in 1985 in exchange for the
freedom of kidnapped French citizen Gilles Peyrolles. The French was released,
but Abdallah remained in jail.
Q: How are the Americans pressuring France not to free
Abdallah? Is the French judiciary succumbing to that pressure?
A:
It is very simple: the American government is a plaintiff in the trial. It is
contrary to the French legal standards. For example, a French woman has been a
prisoner in Mexico (Florence Cassez) for many years now. The French government
is trying to negotiate her liberation, but they are not taking part in the
trial. In Abdallah’s case, a lawyer is representing the American government.
Q: When did Abdallah become your client? Why have you
strongly called for his release from prison?
A:
When Abdallah was arrested, he chose me as his lawyer. He has the right to be
released. He has been in jail for 28 years now ... He should have been released
8 years ago. Yves Bonnet and the prosecutor have called this situation
unacceptable as well.
Q: Former French President Francois Mitterrand pardoned
another Lebanese prisoner in France, Anis Naccashe. Why was Naccashe’s case
different and who helped bring about his release?
A:
In Naccache’s case, the Iranian government officially asked for his liberation.
The Lebanese government only offered to give him a passport in case he is
released. The American government was not part of Naccache’s trial. Abdallah
has two difficulties: the Americans are directly interfering to keep him in
jail, and the Lebanese government is not putting pressure on the French
judiciary.
Q: When defending Abdallah, how did you challenge the
prosecution?
A:
The defense strategy is chosen by my clients. [Abdallah] chose not to be
defended because he thought that the court was under America’s command. In that
condition he didn’t need to defend himself. He thought he had done his duty as
an Arab defending the Palestinian cause. During the trial, the prosecutor told
the court, “Don’t listen to the American voice.” Abdallah’s position was “you
[the court] are under the American government’s command, I don’t see why I
should justify myself in front of you.” The truth is, at the same time in
France, several defenders of the Palestinian cause were assassinated by the
Mossad, and no one was arrested for those murders. Abdallah didn’t contest the
judgment, he contested the sentence. He said that at that time, France was a
battlefield where Israel was allowed to do anything and where the other side
was punished with extreme severity.
Q: France says there are no political prisoners. Do you
agree? How do you define a political case?
A:
In France, there is no difference between political cases and civil cases and
that’s the bad thing. What is scandalous about Abdallah is the time he spent in
jail. His sentence is over, he has very good behavior in prison, and he even
defended a prisoner attacked by other inmates. Keeping him in jail is not in
line with French laws. According to French law, he should be released. That’s
why I came to Beirut few years ago with former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Roland Dumas for a press conference and called for the liberation of Abdallah.
Q: What is the well-known rupture defense, which you have
introduced in trials? Have you used it in defense of Abdallah?
A:
No, Abdallah chose not to be defended anyway. The rupture defense is not my
only defense strategy. The rupture defense is when the defendant and the judges
don’t share the same values. For example, during the war between France and
Algeria, the judge was telling the defendant “you are French; the FLN is not a
resistance organization but a terrorist group.” The defendant was answering “I
am Algerian and the FLN is a resistance movement.” They had opposing values.
That is rupture defense.
Q: What do you think about international courts?
A: All people condemned by
the International [Criminal] Court are African people. It’s as if nothing
happened in Abu Ghraib [in Iraq, or] there were no crimes in other parts of the
world. Many people don’t have to face trials, [but] only African people are
judged. The balance is not equal. The Americans are not held accountable. For
example when France attacked Libya, only Moammar Gadhafi was charged, but
others who committed atrocities have not been charged. We know that many
Africans have been murdered, and no one has been charged for that. The same
case took place during the 2011 war in Ivory Coast, when supporters of former
President Laurent Gbagbo were killed by rebels.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/May-24/174461-lawyer-us-pressuring-france-on-jailed-lebanese.ashx#axzz1vhEIdAun
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