Six French charity workers sentenced to eight years' forced labor in Chad for trying to kidnap 103 children arrived back in France on Friday, judicial officials said today, according to AP. The six arrived at the Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, around 9 p.m. (2000GMT) said a judicial official. The six, from the charity group Zoe's Ark, were sentenced by a court in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, on Wednesday and were transferred to France under a 1976 judicial accord between the two countries that allows for convicts' repatriations. Because France does not have forced labor, it is likely the French justice system will commute or reduce their sentences. But under the judicial accord, Chadian officials must agree to the terms of any sentencing changes. A public prosecutor from the neighboring city of Bobigny was present at the airport when the aid worker's plane touched down. The aid workers' transfer sparked protests in Chad, a former French colony in central Africa, with many Chadians decrying what they saw as special treatment for Europeans. In November, French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to Chad to bring home three French journalists and four Spanish flight crew members initially charged in the case. The journalists and flight crew were arrested along with the aid group members after Chadian authorities stopped the group's convoy in October. They were heading with the children to an airport, where they planned to take off for France.
