QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The intervention of the unpredictable and controversial Me Jacques Vergès, who will say of his client, Mr. Omar Raddad, “he is my first innocent”, brings its share of romance. The writer Jean-Marie Rouart paints a magnificent portrait of him, “he doesn’t hate to pass for the devil. And what would the devil be without his secrets?”, interspersed with the lawyer’s own sentences, “the success of a trial is judged by the trail it leaves in public opinion long after the first hearing”. There was no shortage of twists and turns, right up to the author’s conviction for defamation."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Presidential pardon is not enough: at each presidential election, Jean-Marie Rouart will mobilize with the new President of the Republic to obtain a review of the trial of Mr. Omar Raddad. “Rouart did not defend me, this one will say: he defended justice, he defended France.” His fight is not over.
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GIST: "In his latest book, Jean-Marie Rouart, of the French Academy, continues his tireless fight to rehabilitate the one he considers to be the victim of a denial of justice. “Omar, the making of an injustice” is a real thriller that looks back on a resounding news item from the 1990s.
Some writers are passionate about a criminal case because they find there a renewed source of inspiration, the material for a literary work. Thus, a poisoner from Aquitaine will fascinate François Mauriac: under his pen she will become “Thérèse Desqueyroux”. Truman Capote will be passionate about the story of a massacre in America. He will write “In cold blood”, like a dissection. Other writers, on the contrary, take hold of a criminal case, a simple news item at the start, to defend the cause of justice, and that alone. Emile Zola, with the Dreyfus affair, was one of them.
The commitment of Jean-Marie Rouart, in the Omar Raddad affair, also belongs to this desire to speak out against a denial of justice. The case has remained famous, emblematic of the French passions of the 1990s: in the summer of 1991, a Moroccan gardener was accused of the murder of his wealthy boss, Ghislaine Marchal, based on the famous inscription “OMAR M’A TUER” found in the villa La Chamade, in Mougins. At the end of a trial in which doubt prevailed, he was sentenced to eighteen years’ imprisonment “with extenuating circumstances”. Mr. Omar Raddad will be pardoned by President Jaques Chirac in 1996.
On September 15, 2022, more than thirty years after the events, the Court of Revision’s investigating committee must decide: will it seize the Court of Revision so that it can rule on the annulment of the sentence? and a new trial? Jean-Marie Rouart’s book, published in resonance with this news in which he is a stakeholder, recounts this affair with the intensity of a thriller.
Incredibly staged crime under the sun of the Côte d’Azur; destruction of exhibits; shadow areas; audience comments with hints of racism; no traces of DNA; absence of mobiles; financial issues not taken into account; affects specific to French society in the 1990s…
The intervention of the unpredictable and controversial Me Jacques Vergès, who will say of his client, Mr. Omar Raddad, “he is my first innocent”, brings its share of romance. The writer Jean-Marie Rouart paints a magnificent portrait of him, “he doesn’t hate to pass for the devil. And what would the devil be without his secrets?”, interspersed with the lawyer’s own sentences, “the success of a trial is judged by the trail it leaves in public opinion long after the first hearing”. There was no shortage of twists and turns, right up to the author’s conviction for defamation.
With the mobilization of French writers and journalists, faced with a trial they considered “botched”, in particular that of Jean d’Ormesson, by Philippe Sollers or Philippe Tesson, it is the 1990s in France that are emerging. Jean-Marie Rouart, in this committed book, remains a storyteller. There would be everything, in this book, to make a series on Netflix, and at the same time, everything is real there.
“Omar, the making of an injustice” answers the question: what is a committed writer? It shows how a writer, then director of the “Literary Figaro”, a lover of the motionless waves of the Mediterranean and games of seduction, can transform himself into a tireless defender of the cause of justice. Is this not the founding moral value of our institutions?
Presidential pardon is not enough: at each presidential election, Jean-Marie Rouart will mobilize with the new President of the Republic to obtain a review of the trial of Mr. Omar Raddad. “Rouart did not defend me, this one will say: he defended justice, he defended France.” His fight is not over.
“Omar, the making of an injustice”, by Jean-Marie Rouart (ed. Books, 288 pages)."
The entire review can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGqQSLXMKgxXrqwwvDWKVkXKnGg
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
