France's justice ministry says it has authorised prosecutors to draft an appeal of a court ruling that freed 92-year-old Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon from jail on medical grounds.
"Following a legal study conducted by Paris prosecutors and the chancellery at his request, (Justice Minister) Dominique Perben has given his approval for prosecutors to draft an appeal" against Papon's release, the ministry said.
No details were given on the possible legal basis for the appeal.
Papon walked free from La Sante prison in Paris yesterday after an appeals court ordered his release due to poor health, after he had served only three years for crimes against humanity.
The former Vichy official had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 after being found guilty of complicity in the deportation of more than 1,500 Jews from the southwestern city of Bordeaux.
AFP