Extradition suspended for US hippie leader

Einhorn: Girlfriend's body was found after 18 months

France's highest administrative court has ruled that a fugitive hippie leader, Ira Einhorn, must be returned to the United States to face trial for murder.

The French Justice Ministry later announced a one-week postponement of the extradition at the request of the European Court of Human Rights.

Einhord's lawyer said that the murder suspect had attempted suicide on hearing the court's decision to extradite him.

There are no serious problems

Einhorn's lawyer after his suicide attempt

He tried to cut his own throat and slit his wrists, the lawyer said, but suffered no major injury.

Einhorn fled from Philadelphia in 1981 while awaiting trial for the murder of Holly Maddux, and vanished for more than 15 years.

But in 1997 he was discovered living under an assumed name in southwest France, sparking a legal battle to return him to the US.

House surrounded

Shortly after the court verdict was announced, gendarmes and riot police surrounded his residence where he is under house arrest.

Lawyer Dominique Delthil said Einhorn had tried to take his own life but was out of danger.

"There are no serious problems," she told the Associated Press news agency.

A US court tried him in absentia in 1993, finding him guilty of the murder of Maddux and giving him a life sentence.

Einhorn - a leading pacifist in the 1960s - was still in hiding at the time of the trial.

The body of Ms Maddux was found hidden in Einhorn's Philadelphia flat in 1979, where it had lain undiscovered for 18 months.

In 1999, he was also ordered to pay the dead woman's family $907m in damages for her wrongful death.

Einhorn claims he fled the US because he would not have received a fair hearing, as he had organised demonstrations against the Vietnam war.

Death penalty

Thursday's court decision followed an appeal Einhorn launched last year after Prime Minister Lionel Jospin signed an extradition order.

Mr Jospin did so after receiving guarantees that Einhorn would get a fresh trial in the US and would not face the death penalty.

French law forbids the extradition of suspects who could face capital punishment.

In Einhorn's appeal against Mr Jospin's decision, his lawyers argued that the US authorities had deceived Mr Jospin.

But the Council of State rejected the appeal on Thursday.