Maurice Papon sits behind bullet-proof glass in the Bordeaux Assizes Court, pale and shrunken in his black suit of mourning since he returned from his wife's funeral.
The 87-year-old former cabinet minister, the only French official tried for crimes against humanity for his role in the second World War deportation of Jews, wears tinted eye-glasses since his wife died, and the skin on his face hangs over his hollow cheeks.
From time to time, he peers owl-like over the rim of the dark spectacles. He takes notes with a gold fountain pen, preparing his final discourse to the jurors. At other times he folds his age-spotted, gold-ringed hands over his chest and appears to be sleeping.
"He is beyond it," Mr Papon's chief lawyer, Mr Jean-Marc Varaut says. "He no longer has anyone to tell the news to when he is acquitted." Mr Papon's last promise to his wife Paulette, who died last week at the age of 88, was that he would be acquitted. The verdict of 12 French jurors is expected tonight.
A cardboard panel placed on the gates of the Palais de Justice by the Sons and Daughters of Deported French Jews lists the names of nearly 1,600 Jews deported from Bordeaux between the summer of 1942 and the liberation two years later.
Mr Papon is being tried for the deaths of 74 Jews whose relatives have pressed charges. If his six-month trial has proven anything, it is how difficult it is to establish responsibility for a crime more than half a century after it happened.
On the pavement in front of the courthouse lie dozens of bright yellow placards emblazoned with the Star of David, the names, police records and sometimes photos of Jewish children sent to Nazi death camps while Mr Papon was secretary general of the regional prefecture and head of the "Bureau of Jewish Questions".
Yellow - the colour of the stars which the Nazis forced Jews to wear - has been adopted as a symbol by the French Jews pursuing Mr Papon. Candles and bouquets of yellow tulips and roses lie among the placards. Rachel and Nelly Stopnicki smile up at you.
The little girls were aged two and five when they were picked up by the Bordeaux police on August 20th, 1942. Their sister Therese survived, and is one of 35 civil plaintiffs.
The Stopnicki sisters were sent to the Drancy "processing camp" in convoy number 26 on August 26th, 1942, because Nazi authorities insisted they be `reunited' with their parents.
"Today we know that meant reunion in death," Mr Varaut said. "But at the time the US Consul was begging French authorities not to separate parents and children." In any case, Mr Varaut argued, Mr Papon had appealed in writing to the Germans to free all Jews under the age of 21.
But if Mr Papon's "Bureau of Jewish Questions" was not responsible for the children's convoy, why was it sent the taxi bills for taking the Stopnicki sisters to the train station? It was Mr Papon's assistant, Mr Pierre Garra, who sent for them, Mr Varaut insisted. There was no evidence that Maurice Papon planned the departure of the children - on the contrary, he tried to stall it by asking for further instructions.
As documents pertaining to eight convoys were examined in detail, Mr Varaut blamed Mr Papon's boss, the Prefect, Mr Maurice Sabatier, and his deputy, Mr Garra - both conveniently long dead. An "accusatory fog" surrounded Mr Papon, who was being tried "by default, in the place of others", he said. "No one is criminally responsible for any acts other than his own."
Mr Papon was not in Bordeaux at the time of the September 21st, 1942 convoy, one of those he is accused of organising. The arrest warrants and lists of names which Mr Papon drew up for the Gestapo were always produced after the Jews in question had been rounded up.
In one case alone, that of the January 12th, 1944, convoy, did Mr Varaut acknowledge irrefutable evidence of Mr Papon's involvement. He requisitioned two buses to transport Jews.
"They were already arrested and imprisoned," Mr Varaut said. "It was merely a question of substituting the means of transport, to prevent them going on foot or in trucks. I call that a humanitarian offence," he added.
The 22 lawyers for the civil plaintiffs are hoping that Mr Varaut's skilful submission will not lead to an acquittal tonight.
"Did he have knowledge of a concerted plan [to eliminate Jews] and did he willingly participate in it?" the lawyer kept asking. "You cannot try a civil servant because he is part of the civil service. The Hague Tribunal says there must be personal participation."
Not once during his career at the "Bureau of Jewish Affairs" did Mr Papon visit the internment camp or watch a convoy leaving.
