France v. Paul Touvier

Court	Cour de Cassation, Chambre Criminelle, France
Case number	92-82409
Decision title	Cassation Partielle
Decision date	27 November 1992
Parties	Paul Touvier Republic of France (on behalf of the French People)
Categories	Crimes against humanity
Keywords	crimes against humanity, deportation, illegal detention, Murder, period of prescription, statute of limitations, torture
Links	Cassation Partielle

Summary

Paul Touvier was a collaborator in Vichy France. He was arrested after World War II on charges of treason and collaborating with the enemy and sentenced to death but escaped in 1947 and escaped prosecution for the next 43 years. The statute of limitations for these sentences elapsed in March 1967. However, time limitations for crimes against humanity were abolished in France in 1964, and Touvier was arrested on 24 May 1989 and charged with complicity in crimes against humanity. He was accused of crimes against humanity, committed while carrying out his function as local leader of the Second Service of the Militia in Lyon: involvement in raids, the arrest, torture and deportation of resistance members and the execution of seven Jews in Rillieux on 28 and 29 June 1944.

However, the Court of Appeal in Paris found that, apart from the crimes committed in Rillieux, there was not enough evidence to indict Touvier and declared the charges inadmissible. The Court also ruled that the remaining charge, the crimes committed in Rillieux, could not be classified as crimes against humanity, thus rendering the charge invalid as the period of prescription period had elapsed.

The Cour de Cassation reversed the Court of Appeal’s decision, but only with regards to the murders in Rillieux. The Cour de Cassation ruled that the events in Rillieux in fact constituted crimes against humanity.

Procedural history

In September 1946 Paul Touvier was sentenced to death in absentia by the Court of Lyon for treason. In March 1947 he was again sentenced to death, this time for collaborating with the enemy, by the Court of Chambery. He was arrested but escaped in 1947 and was a fugitive from the law for the next 43 years. The period of prescription for these two death sentences elapsed in March 1967. Time limitations for crimes against humanity were, however, abolished in French jurisprudence in 1964. Thus, a new indictment became possible.

In November 1971 Touvier was granted a presidential pardon.

In 1973 the first official complaints for crimes against humanity were made against him. An official investigation began in 1977. On 27 November an arrest warrant was issued against Touvier. Touvier was arrested 10 years later on 24 May 1989 and charged with complicity to crimes against humanity.

On 29 October 1991, the investigating magistrate declared most of the charges inadmissible and transferred the proceedings for the remaining charges to the Court of Appeal (Cour d’Appel) in Paris.

On 13 April 1992, the Court denied the classification of the remaining charges as ‘crimes against humanity’, thus rendering them invalid on account of the fact that the prescription period in which an action could be brought had elapsed.

Related developments

On final appeal (the case at hand) the Cour de cassation nullified one part of the Court of Appeal’s decision with respect to the killing of seven Jewish persons at Rillieux on June 1944.

The case was then referred to the Cour d’Assises in Yvelines, where trial was opened on 17 March 1994.

On 19 April 1994, Paul Touvier was found guilty of aiding and abetting a crime against humanity. According to the judgment, Touvier was “guilty of having knowingly been accomplice to a crime against humanity on 28 and 29 June 1944 in Lyon, on the one hand by giving instructions, and on the other hand by helping and assisting, with full knowledge and intent, the authors of premeditated murder on Glaeser Léo, Krzyzkowski Louis, Schlusselman Maurice, Benzimra Claude, Zeizig Emile, Prock Siegfried and one man who could not be identified. These murders were part of a concerted plan by a State which followed a policy of ideological hegemony, in this case Nazi Germany, against people singled out by reason of their belonging to a racial or religious group.” Touvier was sentenced to life imprisonment for these murders and died in jail two years later.

Legally relevant facts

Paul Touvier was a collaborator in Vichy, France. First he was the head of the Second Service of the Militia in Savoy. He was then called to Lyon where he became regional leader of the Militia for ten departments, and, from January 1944 onwards, head of the state office for the Maintenance of Public Order. During his time as local leader of the Second Service of the Militia in Lyon, he was involved in raids, the arrest of Jews in the synagogue of Lyon who were subsequently deported and died in concentration camps, the arrest of resistance members, their torture and deportation to concentration camps and the torture and deportations and the execution of seven Jewish persons in Rillieux on 28 and 29 June 1944.

After the end of World War II, Touvier went into hiding under a false identity until the period of prescription for his crime had lapsed in 1967. He was indicted for crimes against humanity in 1989.

On 13 April 1992, the Cour d’Appel in Paris found that, apart from the crimes committed on 28 and 29 June in Rillieux, there was insufficient grounds to indict Touvier and declared the charges inadmissible. With regards to the Rillieux murders, the Court found that these actions could not be qualified as crimes against humanity, thus ruling that the prescription period in which an action could be brought had elapsed.

Core legal questions

What crimes fall under the definition of crimes against humanity?

Specific legal rules and provisions

Article 6(c) of the Nuremberg IMT Statute.

Court's holding and analysis

The Cour de Cassation nullified the Trial Chamber's decision, but only insofar as it concerned the murder of the seven Jewish people in Rillieux on 28 and 29 June 1944. All other considerations of the decision were expressly maintained.

The Cour de Cassation held that under Article 6(c) of the Statute of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, instigators or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit a crime against humanity are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan. The Cour de Cassation noted that the crimes were committed on instigation of the Germans and that Touvier executed the crimes. Thus, under Article 6(c), the Rillieux murders could be qualified as crimes against humanity.

Further analysis

M.E. Tigar et al., ‘Paul Touvier and the Crime Against Humanity’, Texas International Law Journal, 1995, Vol. 30, pp. 285 et seq.;
C. Finkelstein, ‘Changing Notions of State Agency in International Law: The Case of Paul Touvier’, Texas International Law Journal, 1995, Vol. 30, pp. 261-284;
L. Wexler, ’Reflections on the Trial of Vichy Collaborator Paul Touvier for Crimes against Humanity in France', Law & Social Inquiry, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1995.

Instruments cited

Statute of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (Nuremberg IMT Statute), 1945.

Related cases

The Prosecutor v. Klaus Barbie, Cour de Cassation (Criminal Law Chamber), 6 October 1983;
The Prosecutor v. Klaus Barbie, Supreme Court of France (Criminal Law Chamber), 26 January 1984.
The Prosecutor v. Klaus Barbie, Supreme Court of France (Criminal Law Chamber), 20 December 1985;
The Prosecutor v. Klaus Barbie, Supreme Court of France (Criminal Law Chamber), 25 November 1986;
The Prosecutor v. Klaus Barbie, Supreme Court of France (Criminal Law Chamber), 3 June 1988.