Barbie Identified as Torturer by Victims : Defies Judges After He’s Returned to Courtroom Against His Will

Klaus Barbie returned to the courtroom against his will Tuesday to face five of his alleged victims, but he refused to respond as each identified him as the man who tortured and deported them during World War II.

“I am here illegally and here by force,” the pale and defiant former Nazi Gestapo chief of Lyon told the court’s three judges and nine-member jury during the 25-minute confrontation. “And, as judicially I am absent, I will not answer.”

Barbie, 73, who since May 13 had boycotted the court trying him for crimes against humanity during World War II, smiled and nodded to his attorney and the French-German interpreter, but he refused to answer questions posed by Presiding Judge Andre Cerdini.

In rapid succession, five witnesses who had not confronted the defendant during the four years of judicial investigation climbed to the witness stand to identify Barbie.

“It’s certainly him,” said Lucien Margaine, 66. “I couldn’t be mistaken.

“Look at that grin, that smile,” Margaine nearly shouted. “It’s too bad he has nothing to say. I would have had some questions to ask him.”

Some of the hundreds of people in the courtroom applauded, forcing Cerdini to call for silence.

As each of the five witnesses--Margaine, Mario Blardone, 63, Vincent Planque, 68, Raymonde Belot, 66, and Robert Clor, 65--took the witness stand, Barbie stared at them without expression.

After each identification, Cerdini asked Barbie if he had anything to say. Each time he refused. The session was then adjourned and Barbie was led away.

The specially built 700-seat courtroom in Lyon’s Palais de Justice had been half empty since the opening days of the trial, but it was crowded on Tuesday, and people lined up outside waiting for a chance to get in.

On Monday, after the testimony of two witnesses who had not previously been confronted with the defendant during judicial investigation, Cerdini indicated he would use his authority to have Barbie brought to the courtroom by force if necessary for face-to-face identification.

No Answers Required

Under French law, a defendant may refuse to attend sessions of his trial, but the judge has the authority to force him to attend if it is deemed necessary. Barbie cannot be required to respond to questions.

Blardone, who like Margaine was a member of the French Resistance during Barbie’s tenure in Lyon from 1942 to 1944, also was overcome by emotion on the stand, saying to Cerdini: “Look at that glacial stare, that mouth. I recognize it.”

Blardone then spoke to the interpreter who was translating testimony to Barbie. “But he understands French! When he interrogated me he spoke French. Look! He understands me. He has just closed his eyes. That’s real cowardice.”

Barbie is charged with arresting, torturing and deporting hundreds of French Resistance members to German death camps.