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18 August
2008
Lobby your MP and
MEP
about Abuse of British
Citizen's Human Rights
in France
If you agree with the comments
below,
please copy and
send them to your
Member of
Parliament
(MP)
and
your Member of the European
Parliament
(MEP)
and ask them to
ask Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister,
to do something about this fundamental and
systematic abuse of the human rights of
ordinary, decent - innocent - British
Citizens in
France...
Prolonged detention
without trial undermines fair trial
rights, including the right to be free
from arbitrary detention and the
presumption of innocence. Everybody
arrested is entitled to be tried within a
reasonable time, in proceedings that
fully comply with fair trial standards,
or to be released. As the lawyers at the
UK-based
charity, Fair Trials
International, will confirm,
BRITISH CITIZENS are held WITHOUT TRIAL
in FRANCE for MONTHS or even YEARS, with
inadequate legal representation and
translation services both before and when
they do eventually come to
trial.
The current case in
the news, of British woman,
Julia Nichols, is an example
of the travesty of justice which can occur
under the French legal system which presumes
you are guilty before you are proven
innocent and therefore keeps you
incarcerated in terrible conditions until
that time. Julia was held without trial for
months and eventually released, but not
before suffering gang rape, starvation, and
beatings - and being driven to attempt
suicide - in a horrendous French
prison.
A related major
concern of the lawyers at Fair Trials
International is the "European Arrest
Warrant". If the French police simply
suspect a British Citizen of a crime,
they can issue this European Arrest
Warrant and the British Police have no
option but to send that citizen over to
France where, like Julia Nichols, they
will be held in terrible French prison
conditions for months or even years until
their trial eventually comes to court. At
a time when President Sarkozy of France
is asking other countries to respect
human rights, this fundamental abuse of
human rights in his own country is
something the British Government should
be asking him to
address.
Julia's
full horrific story is told in
a book published 18 August
2008...
Day
Trip to Hell
After 18 months held in
terrible conditions without trial
"... a judge not only told Nichols
she could go home but also confirmed she
was
innocent."
Saturday Observer
16.08.08
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