The Trial of Maurice Papon

A Paper Crime

In 1997, after 16 years of legal proceedings, the trial began for Maurice Papon, a high-ranking Vichy official who oversaw the deportation of hundreds of Jews from the Gironde region in 1942. He claimed he had acted under duress, while the prosecution emphasized his conscious responsibility. He was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1998 following a trial that lasted more than six months.