French War Criminal Begins Prison Sentence

Tracked down and captured in a hotel at a posh Swiss ski resort, Maurice Papon was bundled back to France by helicopter Friday to begin serving a 10-year prison term for organizing the wartime deportation of French Jews.

Papon, 89, had proclaimed he was going into exile rather than surrender to French police. But only hours after a Paris court annulled his appeal Thursday and an international arrest warrant was issued, Swiss police swooped down on him at the Posthotel Rossli in Gstaad, about 35 miles south of Bern.

The Swiss government met in emergency session Friday and ordered Papon’s immediate expulsion.

“Switzerland intends to show that it does not want and cannot serve as an asylum for anyone guilty of committing crimes against humanity,” Justice Minister Ruth Metzler said.

Papon, who was hospitalized after his arrest because of an accelerated heart rate, was taken from the prison wing of a Bern hospital and brought by helicopter to the French town of Pontarlier, a few miles from the Swiss border. He was handed over to the French about 6 p.m. and was to be flown to Fresnes prison near Paris.

As an official in the German-allied Vichy government during World War II, Papon oversaw the deportation of more than 1,500 Jews from the region around Bordeaux. He was convicted in April 1998 of involvement in crimes against humanity and was free while awaiting his appeal.

The arrest of Papon, who vanished from his home outside Paris nearly two weeks ago, was a huge relief for the French government, which was criticized at home and abroad for allowing him to flee. He was to have surrendered to French authorities Wednesday, the eve of his appeals hearing.

In its Friday evening editions, the Paris daily Le Monde revealed that the French internal intelligence service, on its own initiative, lifted surveillance operations on Papon a year ago. According to the newspaper, it was French police and intelligence who tipped off the Swiss to Papon’s whereabouts.

French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, who had blasted the courts and police for allowing Papon to remain at liberty and for not keeping a tighter watch on him, said Friday that France had “redeemed itself.”

According to news reports, Papon was enticed to the lobby of his hotel when the receptionist, at the request of Swiss police, phoned his room to tell him he had received a fax. Papon had three French passports, including one for a Robert de la Rochefoucauld, the name he had used to register.

Hotel staff said the guest in Room 115 was planning to stay until next Thursday.

Swiss authorities reported Friday that Papon had been at a hotel in Martigny in southwestern Switzerland on Oct. 11-15, but they had subsequently lost his trail. On Oct. 14, other Swiss officials issued an order barring him from entering the country, apparently unaware he was already there.