Thursday, January 24, 2013

Cassez, A French Convicted Kidnapper Freed From Mexican Prison

Florence Cassez

The Mexican Supreme Court freed a convicted kidnapper.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 24, 2013

Paris, France - On Wednesday,  Florence Cassez, 38, a Fench citizen was released from a Mexican prison after being convicted for kidnapping in 2005. Cassez was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
She was accused of being a member of a kidnapping gang led by her boyfriend who is originally from Mexico.
Cassez was known to ask kidnapped victims what would they rather choose to be cut off, a finger or an ear to send family members in order to force them to pay a ransom. Some of the victims were murdered after the ransom was paid.
A Mexican Supreme Court panel voted 3-2 to release Cassez citing that procedural and her rights were violated during her arrest. Police were also accused of staging an arrest raid to detain Cassez for media outlets.
The court didn't say whether she was innocent or guilty, but that multiple irregularities occurred during Cassez' arrest.
Cassez arrived in Paris on Thursday as a free woman and told media outlets that she had been vindicated. 
Kidnapped victims relatives and a victim who testified against Cassez said, that it was unjust to free a convicted kidnapper. Cassez says, now she will focus on writing a book about her ordeal while being incarcerated in Mexico.
Cassez' boyfriend is still awaiting trial, after seven years.

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