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FM PARIS
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO 422
OF 051633Z MAY 93
INFO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
27
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A
031712
MDHIAN 9770
telephoned Gracheam Hanis 6/5
MY TELNO 381: EXTRADITION OF SANIMAN TO HONG KONG
SUMMARY
1.
French Minister of Justice replies to Attorney-General's letter, agreeing on a visit to Paris by a team of experts. Recommendation that experts come as soon as possible, and that Attorney-General visits thereafter if that would be beneficial.
DETAIL
2.
I received on 5 May the French Minister of Justice's response (dated 3 May, already faxed to HKD) to the Attorney-General's Letter of 26 April. Mehaignerie writes that he is fully aware of the importance of the Saniman case for HMG. He notes that his Ministry have already submitted their observations to the Conseil d'Etat. But he gives his agreement to a visit to Paris by a group of experts. He states that they will be received at the Ministry of Justice and that Mehaignerie himself will be informed of the discussions.
COMMENT
3.
This is as good as we could have hoped for. It gives us the chance to put across directly to the key Ministry of Justice officials our arguments in favour of Saniman's extradition. We must now put together a team sufficiently weighty on the political and the legal side to make the French sit up. The earlier we can propose dates the better; we must not lose momentum now
4.
The Attorney-General's readiness to come to Paris himself to discuss the case with Mehaignerie is most welcome. Although there would be attraction in a brief meeting on 10 May when the Attorney
is anyway in France, we think that the better tactic would be to hold the experts' meeting first, while making clear the Attorney's personal interest in the case and (if this would be acceptable to
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