Florence Cassez is a French woman convicted in Mexico of belonging to the kidnapping band Los Zodiacos (The Zodiacs).[1] She is currently serving a 61-year sentence.
Cassez was first arrested in 2005 when the police raided a house and found three people held there for two months.[2] The chief of the federal police (AFI) later admitted that her arrest, which was shown in front of television cameras, was actually a staged reconstitution in which she had been placed,[3] and her boyfriend, who was the leader of the kidnapping band, also stated that Cassez had nothing to do with his kidnapping activity. Cristina Rios Valladeres and her son, two of the victims, recognized Cassez's voice, and another of the victims identified her physically.[4] According to a letter Valladeres sent to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada,[5] Valladeres was sexually abused during the kidnapping, and Cassez drew blood from her son to send to his father. While some people on the Internet in France defend her innocence, most of the ones in Mexico think she is guilty.[6] Because of Mexico's faulty judicial system[citation needed] there is belief that Cassez might have been unfairly tried and processed by the Mexican government.
On March 9, 2009, during Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Mexico, he requested that Cassez be transferred to a French prison, something she may be entitled to under the 1983 Strasburg Convention, signed by both France and Mexico. Felipe Calderón agreed to setting up a binational committee to settle this matter.[7] However, given that she has been sentenced to 61 years and that 20 years is the maximum prison term permitted in France, Mexico finally decided in June 2009 that Cassez would remain in Mexico to serve her full term.
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