FRANCE/FILE: French prosecutor set to bid for jail term for former head of breast implant company whose products sparked a global health scare

Record ID: 859332

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: French prosecutor set to bid for jail term for former head of breast implant company whose products sparked a global health scare
  • Date: 14th May 2013
  • Summary: MARSEILLE, FRANCE (MAY 14, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF COURTROOM SPECIALLY SET UP FOR TRIAL IN A CONVERTED SPORTS HALL JEAN-CLAUDE MAS, FORMER HEAD OF PIP BREAST IMPLANT COMPANY ARRIVING MAS WALKING IN HALL VARIOUS OF LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES INSIDE COURTROOM MEN GUARDING ENTRANCE TO COURT MAN LOOKING INTO ROOM WHERE PEOPLE LOOKING AT SCREENS (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWYER PHILIPPE COURTOIS, ACTING FOR CIVIL PLAINTIFFS IN THE CASE, SAYING: "Jean Claude Mas has the greatest period of liability, from 2001 to 2010. The maximum that the prosecutors can call for should be called for, that is to say five years in jail and nothing less. One shouldn't put up with a suspended term or anything else. He committed a grave crime against womens' health and he must now be held accountable for it and shoulder the sentence which will be sought by the prosecutor. And we hope that the court will comply with his request." VARIOUS OF GROUP OF ARGENTINEAN WOMEN WHO RECEIVED DEFECTIVE IMPLANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HEAD OF ARGENTINEAN IMPLANTS ASSOCIATION VIRGINIA LUNA SAYING: "What we expect today is that the prosecutor requests the heaviest possible sentence for Jean-Claude Mas and the other people who are implicated in this matter. We want this to be the biggest case in the history of the breast implants. This is the culmination of the fight that we began three years ago and it should be the recognition of womens' right to health all over the world. (JOURNALIST ASKING: "What is the maximum sentence?") It's the maximum according to French law. We know that it won't be a heavy sentence in terms of years. But it must be an exemplary one so that never again will this kind of crime that has been so grave for women be perpetrated again."
  • Embargoed: 29th May 2013 13:00
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  • Location: France
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  • Country: France
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  • Reuters ID: LVAVEUDD1OGU7IHKKOA412QVKX0
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  • Story Text: A French prosecutor was widely expected to seek a heavy jail term for Jean-Claude Mas, the former head of the PIP breast implant company who sparked a global health scare when it was discovered that his products were filled with sub-standard silicone, at the summing up of his trial on Tuesday (May 14).
    Mas, together with four other co-defendents, could face up to five years in prison and heavy fines. A prosecutor was set to recommend a sentence to the court, which will then take several months to issue a verdict and sentence if he is found guilty.
    A total of 6,000 civil plaintiffs are also represented in the criminal trial, under a French legal procedure that allows victims of alleged crimes to seek damages at the end of a criminal procedure. Mas has declared insolvency.

    "Jean Claude Mas has the greatest period of liability, from 2001 to 2010. The maximum that the prosecutors can call for should be called for, that is to say five years in jail and nothing less," said lawyer Philippe Courtois, who is representing the victims.
    The head of the Argentinean Implants Association Virginia Luna said they were seeking the 'heaviest possible sentence' for Mas.
    Some 300,000 implants were sold in France and internationally in the course of a decade before authorities pulled them from the market in March 2010.
    Mas and four other executives from PIP -- once the third-largest global supplier of breast implants -- are charged with aggravated fraud.
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