Frenchwoman jailed for 16 mths gets bail

New Delhi: French national Marie Emmanuelle Verhoeven, who has been at the centre of India’s diplomatic ties with France and Chile has got bail from a trial court on Friday after spending nearly 16 months in jail.
The important development is likely to affect India’s relations with the two countries. Verhoven, 56, who is facing extradition to Chile for her alleged role in a terrorist attack in 1991 that caused the death of a Chilean senator Jaime Guzman Errazuriz, was granted relief despite the Indian government opposing her bail saying she may flee the country.Though the court granted relief to Verhoeven, it imposed several conditions on her and asked her to furnish a personal bond and two sureties of Rs 5 lakhs each. Metropolitan magistrate Shunali Gupta ordered Verhoven to surrender her passport and directed her to not leave the city without the court’s permission.
Verhoeven is yet to be released from Tihar Jail as the bond and sureties are yet to be fulfilled. The court noted that though Supreme Court had recently upheld a decision to notify a 118-year-old treaty between India and Chile, which would enable Vehoeven’s extradition, the facts that extradition plea of Verhoeven is yet to be decided and extradition proceedings take time cannot be ignored. Granting relief to Verhoeven, the court also took into account Verhoeven’s long custody period of 16 months and French embassy’s request that Verhoeven be granted bail on “humanitarian” grounds.
According to Chile, the far-left group Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front carried out the killing of Errazuriz on April 1, 1991 and Verhoeven is alleged to be linked to the organisation. Verhoeven, a member of the Latin American Economic and Social Committee, lived in Chile from 1985 to 1995. Verhoeven’s lawyer Ramni Taneja called it a “politically motivated” case and said that her client has been implicated because she bravely defended the human rights of prisoners in Chile. Verhoeven has been lodged in Tihar Jail since February last year, after she was arrested in India on a red corner notice when she tried to enter the country.
On January 25, 2014, she was arrested at Hamburg airport by German police. But she was freed on June 6, 2014, after a German court rejected a plea for her extradition to Chile, saying the right to recover freedom during one’s life is protected under Germany’s constitution.
The court also pointed out Germany’s rejection of Verhoeven‘s extradition plea. It said, “...The proceedings before this court are not the trial proceedings but only extradition proceedings initiated at the behest of Chillian government.” While opposing Verhoeven’s bail, the counsel for the Indian government had also told the court that they had considered the request made by the French embassy. Quoting the French government’s May 23 letter, seeking relief for Verhoeven, which was sent to the ministry of home affairs, the counsel for the Indian goverment had said, “Since the French government, in its letter, has stated that it does not stand guarantee for its citizens in litigious matters, government would oppose the bail application.”
In its order, the court noted that the French embassy had communicated with the MHA via a note on June 9 in which the embassy said that it had no objection if the court decides to seize Verhoeven’s passport, which is a property of France. Granting bail to Verhoeven, the court said, “It seems...that the opposition is to secure Verhoeven’s presence in court during the extradition proceedings. Simultaneously, it may be noted that extradition proceedings cannot be hurried up...Recording of evidence and adjudication on merits would also take some time.”