Alleged serial rapist freed because of error in French justice

While miscarriages of justice have been making the headlines here recently in France (see the stories on Loïc Sécher and Marc Machin), the latest case of the country's legal system "getting it wrong" involves freeing a man awaiting trial on two counts of rape.

Last week, Jorge Montes, was freed from custody because of a simple administrative mistake, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has stepped in to speed up the process by which the original error can be rectified and Montes taken back into detention.

At the moment though, the 48-year-old, with a history of violence towards women and whom psychiatric experts, police and prosecutors all consider a danger to society, is "free" and the only obligation he has, is to report regularly to a police station in the Paris region.

The latest mess the French judicial system finds itself in occurred because of a simple (even the courts have admitted "stupid") slip of the pen.

On October 17 the clerk of a court in Paris signed a document that sought to reject a request to set Montes free, but rather than validating ("confirmer") that request, he invalidated ("infirmer") it - thus in effect allowing Montes to walk free until his case came up for trial.

To compound the mistake, the same document was countersigned by a judge who didn't pick up on the initial error, and last week to everyone's shock and even the surprise of Montes himself, he was allowed out of custody.

"It's a real scandal and a grave mistake," said Franck Berton, a lawyer for one of the alleged victims.

"I'm used to the judicial system sometimes not working properly, but this case is exceptional.

"It's an embarrassment. You cannot have two pages describing that this man is a dangerous criminal and then just one word which allows his liberty."

And that was very much the point of view of the French president who, although on a visit to China, issued a statement calling for the French justice system to rectify its mistake as soon as possible.

"I don't have the intention of allowing a serial rapist to remain free simply because there has been an administrative error," Sarkozy said.

With both Sarkozy and the justice minister, Rachida Dati, putting pressure on the system to correct its initial mistake, a hearing has been set for Friday October 31 for the original request to be authorised.

Montes is a man with a history of violence towards women. Both his former wives describe him as manipulative and violent and psychiatric evaluations categorise the 48-year-old as "narcissistic, a liar and a megalomaniac."

In May 2007 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment with one year suspended for violence and aggression to a former partner. He was freed in June this year and then taken into custody shortly afterwards for having violated the conditions of his parole.

The alleged rapes for which he is now awaiting trial predate that incarceration. One woman accuses him of holding her captive for 12 days in April 2006 and raping her repeatedly, and a second says he raped her in June of the same year

According to police reports, both women had been terrified and humiliated to such an extent that they had been afraid to press charges.

In perhaps what many would consider to be more than a surrealistic appearance in front of television cameras last week when he was allowed out of detention, even Montes seemed surprised.

"I feel astonished," he said. "It's incredible and unexpected."

His lawyer though, considers Montes' release to be totally acceptable and his client has every legal right to be walking free at the moment.

"It's official and has been signed by all the relevant people," Patrick Maisonneuve told French television. "About that there can be no discussion."

Although Montes is at liberty for the moment, he is required to report his whereabouts to police and has had his passport confiscated. On Friday, a Paris court will review the order allowing his release.