Angola arms traffickers convicted

Luanda, 28 Oct-(ANA)-The son of ex-French President Francois Mitterrand and an ex-government minister have been convicted for their roles in illegal arms sales to Angola.

Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was given a two-year suspended sentence, and ex-Interior Minister Charles Pasqua was jailed for one year by the Paris court.

They were convicted of accepting bribes to facilitate arms deals to Angola in 1993-98, in breach of French law.

Two key figures were sentenced to six years each in their absence.

Prosecutors accused Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak and French magnate Pierre Falcone of being the key figures in the arms trafficking worth $790m (£485m).

Gaydamak and Falcone were accused of buying tanks, helicopters and artillery pieces and then selling them to Angola during its civil war, through a French-based firm and its subsidiary in Eastern Europe.

Falcone was arrested and imprisoned as soon as the sentence was passed. Gaydamak is living in Russia, Associated Press reported.

Mitterrand, an Africa adviser to his father in the Elysee Palace, was ordered to pay 375,000 euros (£340,000), and Pasqua was fined 100,000 euros, while two years of his prison sentence were suspended. (ANA)

FA/ANA/28 October 2009----