Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel whose unauthorised deals lost billions for his French bank was released from custody on bail today.

Maurice Papon, a former Cabinet minister who became a symbol of France's collaboration with the Nazis for his role in deporting Jews during the Second World War, has died. He was 96.

France’s prisons are overcrowded, unsanitary and increasingly housing criminals who require psychiatric and other medical care but are not getting it, according to a report released today.

THE French government is studying possible avenues to overturn a court decision to free Maurice Papon, the Nazi-era collaborator whose sudden release from prison provoked howls of outrage.

The French government is studying possible avenues to overturn a court decision to free Maurice Papon, the Nazi-era collaborator whose sudden release from prison provoked howls of outrage.

WARTIME collaborator Maurice Papon, convicted of sending French Jews to Nazi death camps, was jeered as he walked out of a Paris prison yesterday after an appeal court ordered his release.

A French appeals court today ordered the release of Maurice Papon, a former police chief jailed for his role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps during the Second World War, his lawyer said.

A former gangster known as the ‘‘escape king’’ for a string of often spectacular prison breaks went on trial in Paris today for crimes dating back 25 years.

The son of former French president Francois Mitterrand has walked out of Paris' La Sante prison after a bail of £500,000 was posted by his family and friends.