One of France's best-known criminal lawyers found dead March 18, 2013 - 09:36 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - One of France's best-known criminal lawyers, Olivier Metzner, has been found dead. His body was found floating off his private island in Brittany, BBC News reported. A note was found at his home and an investigation has been opened, with police treating the case as suicide. He made his name in a series of high-profile cases, defending the rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, and Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier. Metzner was one of a handful of star lawyers in France, who between them have dominated the great court cases of the last two decades. He successfully defended former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, when he was accused of a conspiracy to defame President Nicolas Sarkozy, but his client Jerome Kerviel - who caused billions of euros in losses at the bank Societe Generale - was convicted. Other clients included the businessman and former head of Vivendi Jean-Marie Messier, who was convicted of fraud, and Continental Airlines, which was eventually cleared of criminal liability in causing the crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000. Rarely seen out of court without a large cigar, Metzner was renowned for his intricate understanding of the most complex cases, and multinational corporations regularly sought his services. If not quite a household name in France, he was an emblematic figure on the world of criminal justice. Partner news  Top stories Among its provisions are bans on child marriage and the traditional practice of selling and buying women to settle disputes. Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander, led Argentina during the bloodiest days of its Dirty War dictatorship. According to the United Nations, April was Iraq's bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed. Reports suggest the rebel fighters may have tried to blow up the walls of the prison, which holds some 4,000 inmates.   Partner news |  Latest news Brad Pitt’s “World War Z” to open Moscow Film Fest  The fest will feature retrospectives of films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Costa Gavras, as well as a program devoted to Dutch cinema.Wrekin Hill picks up John Malkovich’s “Siberian Education” Based on the novel by Nicolai Lilin, the film is set in the ghetto of Soviet Russia and follows 2 boys who are members of a gang of exiled Siberians.EU says concerned over human rights record in Russia The European Union said it would closely watch developments affecting non-governmental organizations in Russia.John Lennon’s guitar auctioned for $408,000 The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by the VOX company, was bought by an unidentified U.S. buyer in New York. |
