Man acquitted after three years in jail awaiting trial

A French court has acquitted a man after he was kept in jail awaiting trial for three years. Judges said there was no proof that the 31-year-old father of three, a traveller, was involved in the crime of which he was accused.

AFP/Paul Szajner

The man was arrested in 2008 and accused of being part of a gang that a year beforehand had taken prisoner a family, assaulting them in an attempt to steal the takings of a festival of local mussels for which the man of the house was treasurer.

The prosecution case was entirely based on DNA found on a piece of metal casing that was believed to have been used to beat the victims.

But the accused man was a scrap-metal dealer and a genetics expert testified that he could not put a date on the fingerprints from which it was taken.

Despite about 10 demands to be freed on bail, the man was kept in prison for three years without trial.

He is now free to demand compensation.