trial

The mist starts clearing in Bettencourt abuse trial

France

The trial of ten men accused of profiting from the dementia-suffering multi-billionaire Liliane Bettencourt enters its final stages on Monday, after three weeks of hearings. The court in Bordeaux has heard the extraordinary detail of how a disparate group of defendants, including high-society dandies, wealth managers, lawyers, solicitors and a former minister, gravitated around the fortune of the L’Oréal cosmetic company heiress, as first revealed by Mediapart in 2010. This week the court in Bordeaux will proceed with the last cross-examinations, before hearing the final arguments of the defence and prosecution. Mediapart’s legal affairs correspondent Michel Deléan, present in court since the start of the case, reports on the outcome so far.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may win acquittal but trial exposes social misery

France — Link

Prostitutes' testimony during the trial in which the former IMF chief answered charges of pimping reveals world of deprivation and abuse.

Another witness accuses Dominique Strauss-Kahn of forced sex act

France — Link

A former prostitute told a French court the former IMF boss, on trial for pimping, sodomised her as if she was 'an object for his consumption'.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn denies knowing women at orgies were prostitutes

France — Link

The former IMF boss told French court that sex parties in France and the US were 'festive and playful', despite prostitute's harrowing testimony.

France’s Hotel Carlton pimping trial hears about lives of Lille prostitutes

France — Link

The women, some of whom had been abused as children, were passed around men in hotel rooms, apartments and as 'dessert' at business lunches.

Ex-IMF boss Strauss-Kahn faces French pimping trial on Monday

France — Link

Investigating magistrates say Strauss-Kahn knew he was dealing with prostitutes when taking part in sex parties in Paris, Lille and Washington.

French oil giant Total faces corruption trial

International — Link

The company, whose CEO died in a plane crash last month, is accused of bribing Iranian officials for contracts beginning in the 1990s.

'Poison doctor' trial reopens France's euthanasia debate

France — Link

The trial of a doctor accused of fatally poisoning seven patients close to death will judge whether his actions were palliative care or homicide.

The extraordinary acquittal of he who murdered Jean Jaurès

France

Next month will mark the 100th anniversary of the assassination of France's revered socialist leader Jean Jaurès, an icon and figure of reference for the French Left. Among the various works published in tribute to Jaurès on the centenary of his death, a book published last month focuses upon the largely ignored and extraordinary outcome of the trial of his killer, acquitted by a jury despite assuming full responsibility for his act, which he carried out alone and in front of numerous witnesses. The story of the trial, held shortly after the end of World War One, is also that of the political and social atmosphere prevalent in France after the 1918 armistice, when Jaurès' pre-war, outspoken pacifist stand had become regarded by some with hateful contempt. Michel Deléan reports.

Riviera lawyer faces third trial over alleged murder of Casino heiress

France — Link

Maurice Agnelet was acquitted in 1985 of murdering Agnès Le Roux, then freed by European Court of Human Rights after 2007 conviction.

Former French spy chief on trial in phone-tapping scandal

France — Link

Bernard Squarcini says he was acting in national interest by tapping into the phone records of journalist Gérard Davet over Bettencourt story.

Rwandan army captain in landmark French genocide trial

International — Link

Pascal Simbikangwa is the first Rwandan to be tried in France in relation to the 1994 genocide that left up to 800,000 dead.

French footballers Ribéry and Benzema in underage prositute trial

France — Link

Franck Ribéry, 30, and Karim Benzema, 26, face three-year prison term if found guilty of knowingly paying for sex with a minor.

French mother stands trial over prison rape of 4 year-old son

France — Link

Sabrina Bonner, 25, allegedly helped her schizophrenic boyfriend rape her four-year-old son during a prison visit

Police officers to stand trial over deaths that led to French riots of 2005

France

On October 27th, 2005, two police officers chased three teenagers into an electricity sub-station in a Parisian suburb where two of them died after being electrocuted. Their deaths provoked major riots around Paris and across France. Nearly eight years later a French court has ruled that the two officers should stand trial, on charges of failing to provide assistance to persons in danger. Mediapart's legal affairs correspondent Michel Deléan reports on the complex background to this high-profile case.