Word: french
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...urgent aid to the children, who they claimed were orphans from nearby Darfur. But investigators soon found that most of the children were in stable condition - and that virtually all of them were Chadian nationals with at least one living parent. Amidst vivid public anger in Chad, French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to N'Djamena in November to secure the release of seven Europeans detained as accomplices in the case and vowed to eventually bring the remainder home "no matter what they may have done...
...that pledge. Judicial accords between France and Chad make transferrals of convicts virtually mandatory once prisoners have requested return to their home nations. The six Zoé's Ark workers made such a petition just hours after their trial closed, leading some legal experts to anticipate their delivery to French authorities within days. Recent cases of convicts returned to serve sentences delivered by foreign courts suggest that Zoé's Ark staffers would probably serve only about half of their sentences. They would also be spared hard labor, which is an illegal condition of imprisonment in France...
...still railing at what they call a Chadian show-trial, and accuse Paris of failing to provide sufficient assistance and protection to what they say are blameless humanitarian officials. They contend the staffers were trapped in the shifting political sands surrounding the Darfur crisis - particularly the deployment of French-led peacekeeping forces to the Chad-Sudan border region, a move that Chadian authorities resent. Public opinion in Chad, on the other hand, has broadly accused the court of letting a cabal of child traffickers working under humanitarian cover off lightly. Some local commentators fear the transfer...
...Sentiment in France generally lies somewhere between those two extremes. Zoé's Ark staff were condemned at first as buffoons who sought to play God by scorning international law. But more recently French public opinion softened as family members mounted an energetic communications offensive arguing the suspects' innocence. Television scenes of Chadian riot police keeping furious crowds from the accused, meanwhile, have also raised some French fears over their safety - a concern Chadians have denounced as neo-colonial. Elsewhere, some onlookers - including French officials working for the return of the six to France - remain troubled by the lack...
...Terrorism and violence have no place in the democratic debate and the combat of ideas and programs." French President NICOLAS SARKOZY...