"Defense boiler room": the cancellation of proceedings is confirmed on appeal

The Versailles Court of Appeal confirmed the extremely annulment of a vast trial for corruption, that of the "Defense Boiler room".The procedure period had been deemed unreasonable.

The Court has recognized "the unreasonable nature of the procedure" thus bringing "affected by the right to a fair trial, the principle of the contradictory, the balance of the rights of the parties as well as to the law of the defense," said the presidentfrom the 9th bedroom.

Five business leaders, two of whom are now 98 and 82 years old, were to appear in January during a highly anticipated trial, after twenty years of investigation.They were accused of having distorted, between 1999 and 2003, the award of the juicy defense heating and air conditioning market, estimated at several hundred million euros.

But exceptional twist: on the first day of the trial, on January 11, the court decided to cancel the entire investigation procedure, saying that the defendant's law to be judged within a reasonable time had not been respected and had worndamage to their defense.

No "old age" to be given according to the prosecution

This "non -reasonable duration deprives two of the main defendants of their ability to fully defend themselves" due "to disorders related to the great age and their state of health", had justified the president of the Olivier Protard Chamber.The prosecution had then appealed, arguing in particular that there was no "old age" to grant.

The Versailles Court of Appeal agreed to the Nanterre judicial court."After Nanterre the Versailles Court of Appeal sets the record straight.We cannot in France, judge a centenary 25 years after the facts, "said Me Baratelli, representing the interests of Jean Bonnefont, former leader of the ex-Charbonnages de France.

"I salute the lucidity and the sense of the law of the court magistrates," reacted me.Emmanuel Mercinier, lawyer for Bernard Forterre, ex-Numéro 3 of the General Compagnie des Eaux-Vivendi.

Source: Batirama.com