Jacques Vergès
Encyclopedia
Jacques Vergès, born 5 March 1925 in Ubon Ratchathani
, Siam (now called Thailand
), is a French
-Vietnamese
lawyer
who has earned fame continually since the 1950s, first as an anticolonialist communist figure and then for defending a long string of well-known clients from anticolonialist Algerian militant Djamila Bouhired
(his future wife) in 1957-1962 to former Khmer Rouge
head of state Khieu Samphan
(2008). His clients have included both leftwing and rightwing terrorists
, war criminals, and militants, including Holocaust denier
Roger Garaudy
, Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie
(1987), and international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal
(1994). In 2002, he offered to represent former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević
, although Milošević declined any legal advice from any party. The media have sensationalized him with the sobriquet, "the Devil's advocate",The sobriquet The Devil's advocate has been used by the European press to describe not only Jacques Verges but also Giovanni Di Stefano. and he himself has contributed to his "notorious" public persona
by such acts as titling his autobiography The Brilliant BastardThe French epithet has sometimes been translated as "luminous bastard" and giving provocative replies in interviews. He claims that when asked if he would have defended Hitler, he replied, "...I'd even defend Bush! But only if he agrees to plead guilty."
) and brought up on the island of Réunion
, Jacques Vergès is the son of Raymond Vergès, a French
diplomat, and a Vietnamese
mother. In 1942, with his father's encouragement, he sailed to Liverpool
to become part of the Free French Forces
under Charles de Gaulle
, and to participate in the anti-Nazi resistance. After the war Jacques went to the University of Paris
to study law (his brother Paul Vergès
went on to become the leader of the Reunionese Communist Party and Member of the European Parliament
). In 1949 Jacques became president of the AEC (Association for Colonial Students), where he met and befriended Pol Pot
. In 1950 at the request of his Communist mentors he went to Prague
to lead a youth organization for four years.
he defended many accused of terrorism by the French government. He was a supporter of the Algerian armed independence struggle against France, comparing it to French armed resistance to the Nazi German occupation in the 1940s.
Vergès became a nationally-known figure following his defense of suspected anti-French Algerian guerrilla Djamila Bouhired
on terrorism charges (she was accused of blowing up a café, a civilian target). This is where he pioneered the rupture strategy in which he accused the prosecution of the same offenses as the defendants. She was condemned to death but pardoned and freed following public pressure brought on by Vergès' efforts. After many years she married Vergès, who had by this time converted to Islam. They had two children, Meriem and Liess Vergès, later followed by a grand-daughter, Fatima Nur Vergès-Habboub, daughter of Meriem and her husband Fouad. In an effort to limit Vergès' success at defending Algerian clients he was sentenced to two months in jail in 1960 and temporarily lost his license to officially practice law for anti-state activities.
that "It's highly amusing that no one, in our modern police state, can figure out where I was for almost 10 years". Vergès was last seen on 24 February 1970. He left his famous wife, Djamila, and cut off all his ties, leaving friends and family to wonder if he had been killed. His whereabouts during these years have remained a mystery. Many of his close associates of the time assume that he was in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge
, a rumor Pol Pot
(Brother #1) and Ieng Sary
(Brother #2) both denied. There have also been claims that Vergès was spotted in Paris as well as in various Arab countries in the company of Palestine Liberation groups.
, convicted of terrorism, and Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie
. The thrust of his defense in the latter case was that Barbie was being singled out for prosecution while the French state conveniently ignored other cases that qualified as crimes against humanity.
In 1999 Vergès sued Amnesty International
on behalf of the government of Togo
. In 2001, on behalf of Idriss Déby
, president of Chad
, Omar Bongo
, president of Gabon
, and Denis Sassou-Nguesso, head of the Republic of the Congo
, he sued François-Xavier Verschave
for his book Noir silence denouncing the crimes of the Françafrique
on the charges of "offense toward a foreign state leader". The attorney general observed how this crime recalled the lese majesty crime; the court thus deemed it contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights
, thus leading to Verschave's acquittal.
After the US-led occupation forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 and deposed president Saddam Hussein
, many former leaders in Saddam's regime were arrested. In May 2008 Tariq Aziz
assembled a team that included Vergès as well as four Italian and a French-Lebanese lawyers. In late 2003 when the United States arrested Saddam, Vergès also offered to defend Saddam if he was asked to. However, Saddam's family opted not to use Vergès as part of his defense team instead first hiring a team of lawyers based out of Jordan then making Khalil al-Duleimi
the sole legal counsel.
In April 2008 former Khmer Rouge
head of state Khieu Samphan
made his first appearance at Cambodia's genocide tribunal. Vergès is using the defense that while Samphan has never denied that many people in Cambodia were killed, as head of state, he was never directly responsible.
Ubon Ratchathani
Ubon Ratchathani is a city on the Mun River in the south-east of the Isan region of Thailand. It is known as Ubon for short. The name means "Royal Lotus City." The provincial seal features a pond with a lotus flower and leaves in a circular frame. Ubon is the administrative centre of Ubon...
, Siam (now called Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
), is a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
-Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who has earned fame continually since the 1950s, first as an anticolonialist communist figure and then for defending a long string of well-known clients from anticolonialist Algerian militant Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired is an Algerian revolutionary.Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed French colonial rule of Algeria. Djamila Bouhired was raised in a middle-class family, she went to a French school and joined the Algerian National Liberation Front while a student activist. Later, she worked as a...
(his future wife) in 1957-1962 to former Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
head of state Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group's true political leader and held the most...
(2008). His clients have included both leftwing and rightwing terrorists
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, war criminals, and militants, including Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
, Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
(1987), and international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal
Carlos the Jackal
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez , better known as Carlos the Jackal, is a Venezuelan pro-Palestinian currently serving a life sentence in France for shooting to death two French secret agents and a Lebanese informer in 1975....
(1994). In 2002, he offered to represent former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, although Milošević declined any legal advice from any party. The media have sensationalized him with the sobriquet, "the Devil's advocate",The sobriquet The Devil's advocate has been used by the European press to describe not only Jacques Verges but also Giovanni Di Stefano. and he himself has contributed to his "notorious" public persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
by such acts as titling his autobiography The Brilliant BastardThe French epithet has sometimes been translated as "luminous bastard" and giving provocative replies in interviews. He claims that when asked if he would have defended Hitler, he replied, "...I'd even defend Bush! But only if he agrees to plead guilty."
Biography
Born in Siam (now called ThailandThailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
) and brought up on the island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, Jacques Vergès is the son of Raymond Vergès, a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
diplomat, and a Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
mother. In 1942, with his father's encouragement, he sailed to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to become part of the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
under Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, and to participate in the anti-Nazi resistance. After the war Jacques went to the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
to study law (his brother Paul Vergès
Paul Vergès
Paul Vergès is a Réunionese politician. Vergès founded the Communist Party of Réunion in 1959, a party which he led until he retired in 1993...
went on to become the leader of the Reunionese Communist Party and Member of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
). In 1949 Jacques became president of the AEC (Association for Colonial Students), where he met and befriended Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
. In 1950 at the request of his Communist mentors he went to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
to lead a youth organization for four years.
Algerian independence movement
After returning to France, Vergès became an attorney and quickly gained fame for his willingness to take controversial cases. During the struggle in AlgiersAlgiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
he defended many accused of terrorism by the French government. He was a supporter of the Algerian armed independence struggle against France, comparing it to French armed resistance to the Nazi German occupation in the 1940s.
Vergès became a nationally-known figure following his defense of suspected anti-French Algerian guerrilla Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired
Djamila Bouhired is an Algerian revolutionary.Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed French colonial rule of Algeria. Djamila Bouhired was raised in a middle-class family, she went to a French school and joined the Algerian National Liberation Front while a student activist. Later, she worked as a...
on terrorism charges (she was accused of blowing up a café, a civilian target). This is where he pioneered the rupture strategy in which he accused the prosecution of the same offenses as the defendants. She was condemned to death but pardoned and freed following public pressure brought on by Vergès' efforts. After many years she married Vergès, who had by this time converted to Islam. They had two children, Meriem and Liess Vergès, later followed by a grand-daughter, Fatima Nur Vergès-Habboub, daughter of Meriem and her husband Fouad. In an effort to limit Vergès' success at defending Algerian clients he was sentenced to two months in jail in 1960 and temporarily lost his license to officially practice law for anti-state activities.
Missing years
From 1970-78, Vergès disappeared from public view without explanation. To this day Verges refuses to comment about those years remarking in an interview with Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
that "It's highly amusing that no one, in our modern police state, can figure out where I was for almost 10 years". Vergès was last seen on 24 February 1970. He left his famous wife, Djamila, and cut off all his ties, leaving friends and family to wonder if he had been killed. His whereabouts during these years have remained a mystery. Many of his close associates of the time assume that he was in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
, a rumor Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
(Brother #1) and Ieng Sary
Ieng Sary
Ieng Sary was a powerful figure in the Khmer Rouge. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979 and held several senior positions in the Khmer Rouge until his defection to the government in 1996....
(Brother #2) both denied. There have also been claims that Vergès was spotted in Paris as well as in various Arab countries in the company of Palestine Liberation groups.
Defense
Upon his return to normal life he resumed his legal practice, defending Georges Ibrahim AbdallahGeorges Ibrahim Abdallah
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is a Lebanese militant. He joined the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction when the group formed following the discontinuation of PFLP-SOC. He became leader of the organisation, and conducted its operations from France, where he used the aliases Salih al-Masri and...
, convicted of terrorism, and Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
. The thrust of his defense in the latter case was that Barbie was being singled out for prosecution while the French state conveniently ignored other cases that qualified as crimes against humanity.
In 1999 Vergès sued Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
on behalf of the government of Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
. In 2001, on behalf of Idriss Déby
Idriss Déby
General Idriss Déby Itno is the President of Chad and the head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Déby is of the Bidyat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. He added "Itno" to his surname in January 2006.-Rise to power:...
, president of Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Omar Bongo
Omar Bongo
El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009....
, president of Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
, and Denis Sassou-Nguesso, head of the Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
, he sued François-Xavier Verschave
François-Xavier Verschave
François-Xavier Verschave was primarily known as one of the founders of the French NGO Survie , over which he presided since 1995, and as coiner of the term Françafrique, an expression designating the specific form of neocolonialism which has been endured by the former French Colonies.Verschave...
for his book Noir silence denouncing the crimes of the Françafrique
Françafrique
Françafrique is a term that refers to France's relationship with Africa. The term was first used in a positive sense by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire, but it is now generally understood to denounce the neocolonial relationship France has with its African backyard...
on the charges of "offense toward a foreign state leader". The attorney general observed how this crime recalled the lese majesty crime; the court thus deemed it contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
, thus leading to Verschave's acquittal.
After the US-led occupation forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 and deposed president Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, many former leaders in Saddam's regime were arrested. In May 2008 Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party...
assembled a team that included Vergès as well as four Italian and a French-Lebanese lawyers. In late 2003 when the United States arrested Saddam, Vergès also offered to defend Saddam if he was asked to. However, Saddam's family opted not to use Vergès as part of his defense team instead first hiring a team of lawyers based out of Jordan then making Khalil al-Duleimi
Khalil al-Duleimi
Khalil al-Duleimi is an attorney best known for representing Saddam Hussein at his trial. He was one of 22 lawyers representing Hussein at his trial, and the only one based in Iraq. When Saddam's legal team learned that Saddam was to be interrogated, they requested the presence of a lawyer...
the sole legal counsel.
In April 2008 former Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
head of state Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group's true political leader and held the most...
made his first appearance at Cambodia's genocide tribunal. Vergès is using the defense that while Samphan has never denied that many people in Cambodia were killed, as head of state, he was never directly responsible.
See also
- L'Avocat de la terreur (Terror's Advocate)Terror's AdvocateTerror's Advocate is a 2007 French documentary film about Jacques Vergès.-Critical reception:The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. As of January 5, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 40 reviews...
, a 2007 documentary about Vergès