Post date: Jan 24, 2013 12:0:30 PM
Florence Cassez flies home to France after Mexico's Supreme Court rules her kidnapping trial had been tainted.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JANUARY 23, 2013) (REUTERS) - A Frenchwoman convicted of kidnapping flew out of Mexico City on Wednesday night (January 23) just hours after the country's top court ruled her trial had been tainted and ordered her immediate release.
Florence Cassez, 38, was serving a 60-year prison sentence that caused diplomatic friction between France and Mexico after she was arrested in 2005 with her former boyfriend, the leader of a kidnapping gang called the Zodiacs.Shortly after the court's controversial decision, Cassez was discharged from the Tepepan Centre for Feminine Rehabilitation and escorted to a heavily-guarded Federal Police hangar at Mexico City's international airport before boarding her Air France flight.
Cassez is expected to touch down at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday (January 24) afternoon to a heavy media presence back home.
Earlier in the day in a televised court session, Supreme Court Judge Jorge Pardocontroversially ordered Cassez's immediate release due to the judicial irregularities, which the Supreme Court judges deemed to be a violation of her rights.
After her 2005 arrest, police forced Cassez to take part in a staged scene of officers freeing kidnap victims. She was portrayed as a kidnapper in the re-enacted event, whichMexican police subsequently admitted to.
Cassez's conviction caused a bitter diplomatic dispute with France after former French President Nicolas Sarkozy made public statements backing her right to be freed.