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| French pilots flee cocaine conviction in Dominican Republic | French pilots flee cocaine conviction in Dominican Republic |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| A French pilot facing 20 years imprisonment in the Dominican Republic held a news conference in Paris on Tuesday following a daring escape across the Atlantic. | |
| “We’re dealing with a judicial system ... that condemned us to 20 years for the sole reason we were French,” said Pascal Jean Fauret, who escaped with fellow pilot and defendant Bruno Odos. | |
| “I was imprisoned in an isolation cell for two weeks then ... in a cell of six square meters (65 square feet). They shaved my head,” said Fauret, who added that he didn’t have recourse to an inquiry. | |
| Odos did not attend the news conference. Both men have denied knowing that the private plane they had been hired to fly was carrying 26 suitcases of cocaine. | |
| The pair were in the process of appealing against their convictions this year for involvement in a 700kg (1,500lb) shipment of cocaine in 2013. | |
| They had insisted on their innocence since their arrest and their arrival in France on Saturday puts them in unusual legal limbo. They had been barred from leaving the Caribbean island pending the appeal. | |
| Their lawyer, Jean Reinhart, said on Europe-1 radio on Tuesday that the two were in France and at the “disposition” of French justice in the hope of clearing their names. He did not give details about how they escaped. | Their lawyer, Jean Reinhart, said on Europe-1 radio on Tuesday that the two were in France and at the “disposition” of French justice in the hope of clearing their names. He did not give details about how they escaped. |
| “It is not true justice,” Reinhart said. “When you have an order that is illegal, you have to not respect it.” | |
| He said the pilots were suffering from respiratory and dental problems but were “happy to be in their country” with their families. | |
| BFM television said the pair left on a purported tourist cruise, then transferred to a larger boat with the help of a French politician, former naval officers and former intelligence agents – all “friends” of the pilots from their service in the French navy. | BFM television said the pair left on a purported tourist cruise, then transferred to a larger boat with the help of a French politician, former naval officers and former intelligence agents – all “friends” of the pilots from their service in the French navy. |
| The two were then taken to the French Antilles, where they boarded a commercial flight for Paris, BFM reported. Their lawyer said the pair travelled under their real names. | The two were then taken to the French Antilles, where they boarded a commercial flight for Paris, BFM reported. Their lawyer said the pair travelled under their real names. |
| An official with the French foreign ministry said the government had nothing to do with their escape from justice. The official was not authorised to be publicly named, according to ministry policy. | An official with the French foreign ministry said the government had nothing to do with their escape from justice. The official was not authorised to be publicly named, according to ministry policy. |