Mitterrand's son fails to make bail

Mitterrand cannot afford the bail, his lawyers say

PARIS, France -- The son of the late French President Francois Mitterrand is to stay in jail because he cannot afford bail.

Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was granted bail on illegal arms trafficking charges but his lawyers say he cannot afford to pay the 5 million francs ($718,000) set by the court.

Mitterrand has been in custody at Paris' Sante prison since December 21.

One of his lawyers said Mitterrand could not afford the bail and another lawyer branded the bail level -- which is high by French standards -- as a "ransom demand."

"He does not have that sort of money and will therefore stay in prison," his leading lawyer Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi said after meeting Mitterrand in jail.

Versini-Campinchi said the 54-year-old had about 1.4 million francs in a foreign bank account, but could not hand over all his cash to the judiciary.

"He has to live. He has to pay his lawyers," he added.

Mitterrand is suspected of complicity in arms trafficking, influence peddling and embezzlement in relation to large sales of Russian arms to Angola in the early 1990s.

He has admitted receiving $1.8 million from arms dealer Pierre Falcone, who is also under investigation in the case, but says the money was payment for helping with a legal, inter-government oil deal.

Bernard Bertossa, the prosecutor general in the Swiss city of Geneva, said on Wednesday he had received a request from France to freeze Mitterrand's bank accounts but declined to say whether Switzerland would comply.

Lawyers for both Mitterrand and Falcone hope that the case will be declared void at a court hearing on January 12 into allegations that one of the magistrates leading the high-profile investigation had committed a serious procedural error.

They say magistrate Philippe Courroye knowingly "pre-dated" an order last July directing authorities to widen the investigations. It was thanks to this order that Falcone, and then Mitterrand, were implicated in the case.

Versini-Campinchi said in court that even if arms sales had taken place, it was not a matter for the French judiciary because none of the weaponry transited through France.

He also said the embezzlement charge was inapplicable, arguing that the firm involved was registered in Britain's Isle of Man and therefore beyond the reach of French magistrates.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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