CHAD: Lawyer defends Spanish air crew involved in Chadian child flight attempt

The lawyer defending the Spanish air crew arrested as they prepared to fly 103 children out of Chad says he will file a request for their release. Members of the French charity Zoe's Ark and the three Spanish air crew members to remain in Chad appeared in court in Chad's capital N'Djamena on Monday (November 5) on charges relating to theit thwarted attempt to fly 103 children out of Chad to foster homes in France. Six members of French group Zoe's Ark are charged with fraud and abduction. Three members of a Spanish air crew are charged as accessories, as is a Belgian pilot who was arrested later. Jean-Bernard Padare, a Chadian lawyer defending the Spanish detainees, told Reuters television he would file a request on Tuesday for the provisional release of the Spanish crew. "There is no reason to keep them in detention," he said. A French journalist arrested with members of the Zoe's Ark group in Chad as they tried to fly the 103 African children to Europe said on Monday the group had displayed "dramatic amateurishness" and lied about their plans. Marc Garmirian, one of three French reporters released on Sunday, interviewed members of the group during the operation and filmed them putting bandages on children to make them look like they were injured before their planned flight to France. 'Zoe's Ark' has said it intended to place orphans from Sudan's troubled Darfur region with European families for foster care and that it had the right to do so under international law. But U.N. and Chadian officials say most of the 103 children, who are between one and 10 years old, came from the Chad side of the border and had at least one living person they considered to be a parent. A visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday prompted the release of three French journalists and four Spanish air hostesses, but 10 others remain in jail in Chad.

ITN Source | November 6, 2007

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