(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 December 2002, a Paris court barred the cable television station Histoire from broadcasting 80 hours of programming scheduled for January and February 2003 on the trial of Maurice Papon. The trial took place in a Bordeaux court from September 1997 to April 1998. At the trial’s conclusion, Papon, who served as […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 December 2002, a Paris court barred the cable television station Histoire from broadcasting 80 hours of programming scheduled for January and February 2003 on the trial of Maurice Papon. The trial took place in a Bordeaux court from September 1997 to April 1998. At the trial’s conclusion, Papon, who served as secretary-general of Gironde Prefecture during World War Two, was sentenced to ten years in prison for complicity in crimes against humanity. The court ruled that the broadcast, which would air at the same time as debates to re-examine the Papon case, would “run contrary to the demands of due process.”
RSF questions the motives for this decision, which denies the French people their right to be informed about their country’s history. In addition, RSF is surprised that the archival footage of the trial, which was open to the public, could be deemed prejudicial to the rights of the defence.
Papon, who intends to lodge an appeal in January, had requested a ban on the broadcast of forty archival programmes on his trial scheduled to air on Histoire from 13 January to 21 February. On 6 June 2002, the channel had obtained authorisation to access the footage and broadcast them to the public.