When Paris receives a request from a foreign country for the return of human remains held in France's public museum collections, such demands can be granted under recent legislation. But the French state argues that there is a legal vacuum when such claims instead come from French overseas territories such as French Guiana on the South American mainland and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, both of which are governed from Paris. Julien Sartre reports on attempts to change the law to allow remains held by metropolitan museums to be returned to these distant French territories.
Current president says he is against move despite the definitive conviction of the right-wing former president last year on charges of influence-peddling and corruption.
The suspect, identified as a French citizen of Bosnian origin, remains on the run; the authorities are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
The saga of the sexual abuse scandal at the Notre Dame de Bétharram private Catholic school in south-west France, and just what the current French prime minister François Bayrou knew about it at the time, has taken another twist. Speaking during a Mediapart broadcast, Bayrou's daughter Hélène Perlant, who was a pupil at the school, confirmed that her father had indeed gone to the home of Judge Christian Mirande back in 1998 to speak about an ongoing criminal investigation into rape allegations against the school's former headteacher. François Bayrou had hitherto denied doing so. But following his daughter's comments the prime minister's office formally acknowledged that a meeting did indeed take place at the time. An opposition Member of Parliament has now called on the prime minister to resign for “lying several times” over the case. Mathieu Magnaudeix, David Perrotin and Antton Rouget report.
During his two-day visit, the French president also announced plans to step up economic ties, including investment in a major hydroelectric dam project.
The European Court of Human Rights has sided with three women who said they were raped when they were aged 13, 14 and 16 and argued that French authorities did not protect them well enough.
At the recent LVMH annual meeting in Paris, shareholders of the luxury goods group granted its 76-year-old billionaire boss Bernard Arnault the right to continue at the helm until the age of 85. The veteran businessman seized the opportunity to proclaim a stance that was anti-European and closely aligned with the position of US tech billionaire and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk. In particular, the group's boss described the European Union as a “bureaucratic” body devoted to “issuing regulations”. These comments by Arnault, one of the richest people on the planet, mark the culmination of a political evolution on his part, and come as the luxury empire begins to show signs of faltering. Romaric Godin reports.
Two people close to François Bayrou said he was in a state of “intense emotion” after learning about the incident at the scandal-hit school in south-west France.
Pope Francis, the first ever South American pontiff who died on Monday aged 88, leaves behind him a mixed and contradictory legacy. He notably took up the cause of migrants, championed environmentalism and denounced the unfettered pursuit of wealth as the 'dung of the devil'. But he also fiercely opposed abortion, condemned homosexuality and leaves a controversial record on tackling sexual abuse by the clergy. Mediapart co-editor Lénaïg Bredoux looks back at the highs and lows of his 12 years as head of the Catholic Church.
A French Egyptologist specialised in hieroglyphic cryptology says he has decoded several messages that until now were undiscovered on the Luxor Obelisk, which dates to about 1,300BC but situated since 1833 on the Place de la Concorde in central Paris, and which project the power of Pharaoh Ramses II.
The sexually abusive behaviour by Abbé Pierre, the late French Catholic priest who became revered in France for his charitable work and foundation to help the poor and socially excluded, but who is now accused by more than 30 people of sexual assault, was made known to the Vatican as early as 1955, according to book just published in France.
April 17th marked the bicentenary of France’s recognition of the independence of Haiti, its former colony that won freedom in a revolution led by slaves. In return, Paris imposed a crippling debt upon the new Caribbean nation in the form of an indemnity to be paid to former slave masters for their losses, notably plantations. Many historians argue that the huge debt payment stunted Haiti’s future development, leaving it today one of the poorest countries in the world. Emmanuel Macron last week announced the creation of a bi-lateral commission to look at this episode of history “in the face”, but the French President was careful to make no commitment to pay reparations to Haiti. Ludovic Lamant reports.
