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Chad pardons French aid workers Chad pardons French aid workers
(about 6 hours later)
Chad has pardoned six French aid workers imprisoned last December for abducting 103 African children. One of the six French aid workers jailed last December for kidnapping 103 African children has been released from prison hours after Chad pardoned them.
The six, who work for Paris-based agency Zoe's Ark, are serving an eight-year prison sentence in France. The six, who worked for Paris-based charity, Zoe's Ark, had initially been sentenced to eight years in prison in Chad, but were later moved to France.
The aid workers had said that they believed they were rescuing orphans from Sudan's troubled Darfur region to take them to foster homes in Europe. They had claimed they were rescuing orphans from Sudan's Darfur region to take them to foster homes in Europe.
But it emerged that most of the children were from Chadian border villages and were not orphans. But it emerged most of the children were from Chad and were not orphans.
The six, who had been sentenced to eight years' hard labour in Chad, flew back to France in late December and have been serving their sentence there under a co-operation agreement. Two of the aid workers may still face criminal charges in France, and several law suits have been lodged against the charity by disappointed foster families.
"The Higher Judicial Council has given a favourable opinion on the request for a pardon," Justice Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke told Reuters news agency. Chad's government has also said it wants the children's families to receive compensation either from the aid workers or France.
Though members of the organisation - set up after the 2004 Asian tsunami - insisted they had always acted in good faith, their actions were criticised by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and by members of the aid community. Better relations
Television cameras captured a smiling Dominique Aubry as he left the prison in the Normandy town of Caen on Monday evening.
The 30-year-old volunteer fireman had been employed as a logistics chief by Zoe's Ark when he and his colleagues were detained on 25 October by Chadian security forces at the airport in the eastern town of Abeche.
They were later sentenced to eight years' hard labour in Chad, but had been serving their sentence in prisons across France since late December under a judicial co-operation accord.
Mr Aubry was released only hours after being pardoned in a decree issued by Chad's President, Idriss Deby.
The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says the pardon comes at a time of strengthening relations between Chad and France, which helped Mr Deby beat back a rebel assault to overthrow him in February.