Florence Cassez who spent 7 years in prison in Mexico on kidnapping charges has returned to a hero's welcome in Paris, declaring she had been cleared by the Mexican court that ordered her release.
Florence Cassez arrives at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after being freed in Mexico
Florence Cassez was arrested in 2005 and convicted of helping her Mexican then boyfriend run a kidnapping gang.At least one victim identified Cassez as one of the kidnappers, though only by hearing her voice, not by seeing her.
Florence Cassez release was ordered on Wednesday Jan 23,2013 because of flaws in her trial, bringing to a close a case that had strained relations between the countries.
The Mexican supreme court panel voted three to two to release Cassez because of procedural and rights violations during her arrest, including police staging a recreation of her capture for the media. The justices pointedly did not rule on her guilt or innocence, but said the violations of due process, the right to consular assistance and evidentiary rules were so grievous that they invalidated the original guilty verdict against her.
Her arrest, trial and 60-year prison sentence made her a cause célèbre in France, where television networks carried her return live, hours after relatives of kidnap victims angrily shouted "Killer!" as a police convoy whisked her away from the Mexico City prison.
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