TNAG-2653-FCO40-3846-Extradition-cases-from-the-UK-and-France-to-Hong-Kong-Lorrai-1992 — Page 155

3.

Professor Cohen stated that the pressure on the French Government could be stronger if a contentious recourse was lodged immediately together with an informal notice to the French authorities that it would be withdrawn before the proceedings have started if an alternative solution satisfactory to both parties could be found.

We recommend that a gracious request be presented, so as to try to

If the negotiate with French Government an alternate solution. negotiations do not succeed, the time "lost" shall only be of four months, which is not significant compared to the two to three years which full litigation will take further to a contentious recourse.

All the participants agreed, however, that a gracious request would be significant only if there is massive political and diplomatic support, in particular on the part of the British authorities and the British Embassy in Paris. In addition to the fact that the capacity of the Hong Kong Government to present a gracious or contentious request is challengeable (see below), the participants agreed that the French Government will essentially take into account, if it contemplates reconsidering its position, its links with Great Britain and manifestations on the part of the British Government that it endorses and supports the request.

The

We understand from our contacts with the British Consulate that their involvement was only limited to asking ("repeatedly", according to the French Ministry of Justice) the state of advancement of the case without any further involvement. participants agreed that such behaviour could only be detrimental to the interests of the Colony: repeated but superficial contacts could only annoy the French civil servants in charge of the case without serving the interests of the Hong Kong Government in the absence of transmission of any information.

The participants agreed that a gracious request would be meaningful only to the extent that the case would be in all respects treated

Contacts with the as if made by the British Government itself.

All contacts should French Ministry of Justice should be avoided. be made between the British Embassy and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They should aim at persuading the French authorities of the importance of the case for Britain and of the very detrimental consequences, including for the civil parties such as BMFL, of Mr. Saniman not being judged, and not even heard, at his trial. To the largest possible extent, this action should be supported by requests from the civil parties that Mr. Saniman be returned to Hong Kong at least to be heard at the trial, on the ground that his situation at the very heart of the BMFL cases makes

a witness to establish it necessary that he be heard at least as the responsibilities of the accused.

A gracious request would also be meaningful only to the extent that an alternate solution could be presented to the French Government, on the assumption that it is unlikely entirely to change its current position and that the real reasons for its decision relate to 1997.

It was agreed that it is not possible under French law, that Mr. Saniman be judged in Hong Kong and returned to France to serve Professor imprisonment to which he could have been sentenced.