'No extradition' for kidnap woman

By Stephen Gibbs
BBC News, Mexico City

Florence Cassez has always pleaded her innocence

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said a French woman who was convicted of kidnapping will have to serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico.

The French government had been urging the Mexican authorities to extradite Florence Cassez, who has long pleaded her innocence.

But Mr Calderon said Mexican law must be upheld.

She was arrested in 2005 at a ranch near Mexico City where three kidnapping victims had been held for two months.

One of the victims was only eight years old.

The case of Florence Cassez has long been controversial in both Mexico and France.

It later emerged the arrest, as seen by the public, was in fact a re-enactment staged by the police for the media.

Nobody in Mexico, regardless of their social or economic status or their nationality, is above the law President Felipe Calderon

Ms Cassez has always said her only connection with the case was that she was the girlfriend of the leading kidnapper.

But her victims identified her, and said she took an active role in their abductions.

Many people in France believe she is innocent while many in Mexico see her as guilty.

The case had been discussed by the Mexican and French presidents, and it had been expected she would be returned to France soon to serve out the rest of her sentence.

But in an unusual address to the nation, President Calderon said she would serve her 60-year sentence in Mexico.

The French government had protested at the lengthy jail term. Under French law the maximum sentence for kidnapping is 30 years.

Mr Calderon, who has staked his presidency on taking a tough stance of kidnapping and organised crime, said: "Nobody in Mexico, regardless of their social or economic status or their nationality, is above the law."