Mitterrand bail plea rejected

Paris - A French court yesterday turned down a plea for bail by a son of the late president Francois Mitterrand and ordered that…

Paris - A French court yesterday turned down a plea for bail by a son of the late president Francois Mitterrand and ordered that he be kept in jail pending possible trial for illegal arms trafficking with Africa.

Mr Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (54), his father's adviser for Africa from 1986 to 1992, is being held on suspicion of influence peddling, complicity in arms trafficking and abuse of confidential and company funds in relation to large sales of Russian arms to Angola in the early 1990s.