MEXICO CITY, March 8 (UPI) -- Five judges will vote on a motion for the immediate release of a Frenchwoman serving a 60-year sentence in a Mexican jail for kidnapping, officials say.
Florence Cassez, 37, was arrested in 2005 on accusations she was connected to a gang of kidnappers known as the Zodiacs. Cassez denied any knowledge of the kidnappings or the group, and claimed authorities were making an example of her, Radio France Internationale reported.
Judge Arturo Zaldivar wrote the motion for her immediate release, asserting Cassez was not presumed innocent upon her arrest, was not immediately presented to a prosecutor and was denied immediate access to her consular rights.
Zaldivar also decried a mock-arrest staged for TV one day after she was taken into custody, stating that officials were "consciously deforming reality."
An appeal court last year rejected claims that there were problems with Cassez's case.
As a result of the case, relations between Mexico and France have been strained.
