TNAG-2955-FCO40-4232-Extradition-cases-from-the-UK-and-France-to-Hong-Kong-Lorrai-1993 — Page 103

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FM PARIS

IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 586

TO

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Mv

2216

;) Please Lusive that

this tel is copied to Home Office.

& to Ay Chambers

плаван

62)

170737

MDHIAN 5516

TOP COPY

Haise with Mr Pusher Q DIST ?

and consult AG chambers over

OF 181508Z JUNE 93

2) Meas

INFO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG a suitable date. htt

Hello

NAT 21/6. See Plio

3) HK have said they would send. somcove over, wld AG welcome this? Does Danis see any objection? (Inappropriate to accompany

meeting?)

4) Is work in hard to bury AG? YOUR TELNO 240 AND HONG KONG TELNO 980: EXTRADITION TO HONG KONG FROM FRANCE OF SANIMAN

SUMMARY

1.

•

French Minister of Justice willing in principle to receive Attorney General but could only manage after 14 July.

DETAIL

2. Mehaignerie is genuinely swamped with parliamentary business notably concerning the new French Nationality law, until 14 July. Because of this he postponed my meeting with him on 17. June. spoke to him by telephone today and made briefly the main points in your telno 221. I stressed the political importance of stability and the rule of law in Hong Kong and therefore the weight given by the Hong Kong government and HMG to this extradition case. I said that the proposal in his letter to the Attorney General of 3 May for a meeting at expert level had not worked out because we had been told that the French side would merely listen to UK views and not enter into discussion. I said that the Attorney General, because of the importance of the case, would like to come to Paris to see Mehaignerie to discuss it among other things.

3.

Mehaignerie said that he was in general aware of this case, following the Attorney General's letter of 26 April but that because of his parliamentary preoccupations he did not know the detail. He would have himself fully briefed and would be glad to see the Attorney General in Paris. Because of his parliamentary preoccupations, the visit should be after 14 July.

COMMENT

4. Provided the Attorney General can manage a visit in the second half of July that would be a satisfactory step unless the Conseil d'Etat were to rule before then. Our French Lawyer confirmed that this remained possible but not very likely (para 4 of my telno 562). Grateful for a date to propose to Mehaignerie.

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