Sarkozy, Calderón Discuss French Inmate

CANCUN, Mexico, March 9 -- The notorious case of the convicted kidnapper Florence Cassez, a French expatriate, has dominated media coverage of the first visit to Mexico by a French president in 10 years.

Cassez, 34, was convicted in 2006 of being a member of a violent and sophisticated kidnapping crew known as the Zodiacs, led by Israel Vallarta Cisneros, code-named Cancer, who was her boyfriend. Some of the victims included children, and at least one of those kidnapped said she was sexually abused and tortured.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked after Cassez while he and Mexican President Felipe Calderón toured the Aztec pyramids Sunday. The first lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, said she wanted to visit Cassez in prison.

The two leaders discussed her again during their formal talks Monday. They then answered questions about her at their news conference in Mexico City, where they announced the creation of a joint commission to review the international agreements that would allow Cassez to return to France to serve out some of her 60-year sentence, which was recently upheld by the Mexican high court.

Cassez, a slim, chic, photogenic redhead from northern France, worked as a hostess for VIP guests at swank Mexico City hotels during the Zodiacs' string of kidnappings in 2005. According to police, the Zodiacs performed detailed financial analysis of their potential victims, tracked their movements closely and then pounced. The victims spent months at the Zodiacs' ranch south of Mexico City, as their captors methodically milked ransom payments from their terrified families.

Cassez says she is innocent -- guilty of nothing more than poor judgment in dating a kidnapper. She lived at the ranch while three of the kidnap victims were held, including an 8-year-old girl. Cassez says she didn't know they had been taken against their will.

Her lawyer, Franck Berton, says the case is riddled with procedural problems and violations of her rights. To highlight the government's crime-fighting prowess, Mexican federal agents orchestrated a raid on the Zodiac ranch for the news media and their cameras, complete with a hostage rescue and a re-creation of the arrest of Cassez. Mexican authorities had, in fact, arrested Cassez the previous day. The revelation that the raid was staged was a stinging embarrassment for the Mexican government.

Although many of Cassez's supporters in France say she was railroaded, Sarkozy was careful not to offend. "I did not come here to contest the rulings of Mexican justice," Sarkozy said, adding that France acknowledges that "this case is very sensitive in Mexico."

"If Cassez is transferred, she will be transferred from a Mexican prison to a French prison," Sarkozy said at the news conference as Calderón stood beside him.

Later Monday, Sarkozy addressed the Mexican Senate and defended his right to speak out for his fellow citizen.

One of the Zodiac victims, Cristina Rios, who was kidnapped along with her son and held for two months, swears that Cassez was one of her abductors and accused the group of psychological torture and sexual abuse in a letter to the news media. Rios said the experience left her family "broken." Activists in Mexico, who have been pushing the government to solve and stop a rash of sensational kidnappings, say that sending Cassez to France would send a bad message.

For his part, Calderón said, "Nobody in Mexico, independently of their class, economic standing or nationality, can avoid the observance of the law. The law is equal for everybody, and those who violate it must suffer the consequences."