Headline May 26, 2012 / The Philosophic Sweep

THE PHILOSOPHIC SWEEP 

Respectful dedication to the students of France

The court accepted Arno's version of the truth. Touvier was sentenced to life in prison. In the wake of Touvier case a number of things happened. The first being that Arno became a media glow in France. He has become a true celebrity adorned high, far and wide. 

The Touvier case was published the World over and Arno went to write a book ; TOUVIER ON CRIME FRANCAIS, and he then began working on his novel. A transformation in his life took place and he now considers himself a writer more than a lawyer. 

There is another, more serious consequence of the Touvier trial the French judiciary now accepts that Frenchmen could and did commit crimes against humanity on their own initiative. In addition, the French public now appears eager for anyone who has been accused of crimes during the occupation to be brought to justice - the desire for explanation and probably , expiation, may be welcome after the myopia that prevented in the years after the war, but it is a little too late. 

All the worst offenders are now dead. In the new climate called "LYNCH MOB ATMOSPHERE" A NEW TARGET EMERGED, Maurice Papon, a past war prefect of police in Paris and a minister under President GIscard d'Estaing. Maurrice Papon holds the distinction of being the only Frenchmen, both to have been decorated for his work with the resistance and charged with crimes against humanity. 

But Papons lawyers argued that he was simply a bureaucratic stamp in a system that he did not control. Arno has no doubts though: "It's not just shedding a light on the past" he says emphatically.  "It's shedding a light on the future. I don't want the France of 2044 to be a country in which Touvier had not been condemned and Papon had not been condemned. It shouldn't be a France in which I would be happy to live. It's an example : It shows that the arm of the law can go back 50 years and prosecute those responsible for crime. If we as a society do not condemn those who commit crimes against humanity when we have a chance to do so, then that society is not worth living in." 

A dark avenging angel his black judicial robes sweeping behind him. 

Good bless and Good night !

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