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N'Djamena: Six French aid workers convicted of plotting to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe have been released from prison following their pardon by Chad's president, according to the French Justice Ministry.
The six members of the Zoe's Ark charity were sentenced to eight years' hard labour by a Chadian court late last year after it convicted them of trying to fly 103 African children to Europe without permission from the authorities.
But investigations showed the children were Chadian, and that most had at least one parent or close adult relative.
After convictions in Chad, the six were transferred to France to serve their eight-year sentences. A Chadian middleman was also sentenced to eight years.
Reports said the case had inflamed anti-French sentiment in Chad, but President Idriss Deby raised the possibility of a pardon after French support helped him ward off a rebel attack on his capital in February.
Deby officially pardoned the seven convicts on Monday, state radio announced. A French Justice Ministry spokesman said that all six Zoe's Ark aid workers would be released "during the coming hours."
Dominique Aubry, Alain Peligat, Philippe van Winkelberg, Eric Breteau, Emilie Lelouch and Nadia Merimi were released by Monday evening. Merimi had been hospitalised.
The children involved spent months in an orphanage after their flight to France was stopped, but most are now reunited with their families.
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