Frenchwoman Freed from Mexico Jail Sues Former President Felipe Calderon France 24
go to original January 27, 2015

Florence Cassez, who spent seven years in prison in Mexico on kidnapping charges before being freed in 2013, poses in Paris on January 21, 2014. (AFP/Thomas Samson)

A Frenchwoman who spent seven years in a Mexican prison for kidnapping before having her conviction quashed is suing a former president, ex-officials and a major TV network for a total of $36 million.

Florence Cassez filed the civil suit against Mexico's ex-President Felipe Calderon and others Friday, lawyer Jose Patino Hurtado told Noticias MVS radio, with his client demanding compensation for suffering and “moral damage”.

The lawsuit seeks “above all to vindicate Florence Cassez, which is the most important thing,” Patino Hurtado said.

Along with Calderon, the suit names former Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna and other officials, as well as the Televisa TV network and journalists including the prominent anchor Carlos Loret de Mola.

...Cassez, 40, became a cause célèbre in her native France after she was arrested in 2005 and sentenced to 60 years on charges of aiding a kidnapping ring allegedly led by her Mexican boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, in a case that soured relations between Paris and Mexico City.

...Though she was greeted with a hero’s welcome upon her return to France many in Mexico, where anti-crime activists had vigorously opposed her release, were indignant that a woman they believed to be a kidnapper had gone free.

Read the rest at France 24

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