Florence Cassez

Florence Marie Louise Cassez Crépin (born 17 November 1974) is a French woman convicted in Mexico of belonging to the kidnapping gang Los Zodíacos (The Zodiacs).

She received a 60-year sentence for the crimes of kidnapping, organized crime, and illegal possession of firearms.

The sentence and a possible extradition to her home country created diplomatic tensions between France and Mexico.

Cassez denies all charges.

In 2003, Cassez arrived in Mexico legally as a tourist, to live and work with her brother who was there with his Mexican wife.

She met Israel Vallarta the following year through her brother.

The pair began a difficult relationship that alienated her friends, who sensed that he was trouble.

She returned to France in the summer of 2005 but Vallarta contacted her and she returned to Mexico to live at his ranch.

Cassez found a job in a hotel and looked for an apartment closer to her job.

Cassez's arrest took place on Thursday, 8 December 2005 on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca Highway, as she rode with Vallarta.

She had been living with him, and they were most times seen together.

She was detained overnight, then moved to Vallarta's house in the early morning hours of Friday, on 9 December 2005.

The Mexican Federal Police, which had tipped off several journalists, staged a fake arrest that TV crews from the Mexican networks Televisa and TV Azteca reported live by Loret de Mola.

Three kidnapped victims were freed and four persons—including Cassez—arrested.

Cassez was then presented as a member of the kidnapping gang "Los Zodíacos", something she has always denied.

Vallarta, who was the leader of the kidnapping band, also stated that Cassez had nothing to do with his kidnapping activity.

Mexican public opinion is divided between those who believe she is "undoubtedly guilty," and those who believe the Felipe Calderón administration was using her as a scapegoat.

There was also a debate whether judges should give preference to the legal procedure over justice, and so free Cassez, as demanded by Nicolas Sarkozy.

The main irregularity was on legal procedures regarding the procedures to arrest an individual.

A few weeks later, during a live television show, Cassez called and confronted the head of Mexican Federal Police, Genaro García Luna, with the truth about the staged arrest.

In the weeks that followed, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, the Attorney General of Mexico, was forced to admit that the arrest seen on TV was staged.

He also tried to shift the blame on journalists, claiming they had requested it.

As a result, one journalist, Pablo Reinah, was fired by his TV network.

Reinah filed a lawsuit for defamation.

The Federal Police claimed that three victims were held hostage in the ranch where Cassez lived from September to December 2005, which belonged to Israel Vallarta.

However, a couple who owned a restaurant nearby declared that they had the keys to the ranch and that a few days before the arrest staged by the police, they could detect no victims or any suspicious activity in the ranch.

The two judgments made by the Mexican tribunals are based on controversial testimonies.

Cristina Ríos Valladares, and her 11-year-old son Cristián Hilario claimed that they were hostages of Florence Cassez.

They were held hostage for 52 days, from 9 October 2005 to 9 December 2005.

During their captivity, the victims were blindfolded and only heard the voices of their kidnappers.

In their first declaration, they didn't recognize Cassez's voice.

However the victims later changed their testimony claiming it was Cassez who would taunt them and torture them.

Ezequiel Elizalde was the third hostage freed during the staged arrest.

He was held hostage for 65 days.

Since August 2006, an official probe has been launched by the Mexican police against the federal agents who arrested Cassez.

In March 2007, the Mexican justice ruled that Reinah had no knowledge that the arrest of Cassez and Vallarta was staged.

On 21 March 2012, three Ministers of the Mexican Supreme Court, concluded that many fundamental rights of Florence Cassez were violated during her arrest.

Later that week the Procuraduría General de la República declared that it would start an investigation to search for those responsible of violating her fundamental rights and for staging the arrest.

On 23 January 2013, the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico ordered Cassez's immediate release due to police simulating her arrest for the purpose of filming the day after her actual arrest.

She was repatriated to France on 24 January 2013.