Mexican judges rule not to free Frenchwoman

A Supreme Court panel voted on Wednesday not to free a Frenchwoman who says she was unjustly sentenced to 60 years in prison for kidnapping in a case that has put Mexico's troubled justice system on trial and become a cause celebre in France. The case of Florence Cassez has strained relations between the countries and it is also the center of a vigorous debate between Mexicans who say she was abused by the criminal justice system and those who say setting her free would only reinforce a sense that crimes such as kidnapping go unpunished. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly called for Cassez to be freed, while Mexican President Felipe Calderon has urged the court panel to uphold justice for victims. The justices on Wednesday voted 3-2 against freeing her but four also said there were violations to her rights and that the case needs to be reviewed. A new judge will now have to present a proposal that considers what effects those violations had on her case. That will be voted on by a panel of five judges. Cassez's father, Bernard Cassez, called the decision a "great deception" because he thought his daughter was going to be released on Wednesday. But her lawyer, Agustin Acosta, said it was "a great step to have the justice system recognise that the case has not been fair, that there were very grave violations." Cassez was arrested in 2005 and convicted of helping a kidnapping gang allegedly led by her Mexican then-boyfriend. She lived at a compound near Mexico City where kidnapping victims were held, but she has said she was simply dating the man in the case and did not know the victims were being held there. At least one victim identified her as one of the kidnappers, though only by her voice, not by sight. Cassez was originally sentenced in 2008 to 96 years in prison for four kidnappings. The sentence was reduced to 70 years a year later when she was acquitted of one of the charges. Early last year, a court rejected a plea to dismiss the charges and confirmed the 60-year sentence. Cassez's imprisonment became a hotly debated issue in France after Mexican police acknowledged that they staged a televised raid of the ranch in which officers appeared to rescue the hostages and detain Cassez. The Attorney General's Office acknowledged that, in fact, Cassez had been arrested the day before outside the ranch. Police later acknowledged they were dressed in civilian clothing and were let into the ranch by Israel Vallarta, Cassez's ex-boyfriend who was also arrested. His case is still being decided in the courts. Mexican police hauled Cassez back to the ranch and forced her to participate in their staging of the raid for television cameras, a sort of media display that is not unusual in Mexico. Supreme Court judge Arturo Zaldivar cited that incident and other irregularities when he proposed this month that Cassez should be set free. He said police also were late in allowing her access to the French consul. Zaldivar's proposal divided a country that is struggling to repair a legal system that routinely shrugs at torture or tramples on the rights of defendants but that also is fed up with rampant drug violence and kidnappings. Various public opinion polls say 65 to 74 per cent of Mexicans think Cassez is guilty and many express resentment at French pressure to win her freedom.