Florence Cassez: what happened to her ex-companion Israel Vallarta?

He is one of the inmates to have spent the most years behind bars in a Mexican prison without being tried. For 17 years Israel Vallarta has been awaiting trial. The alleged arrest of the ex-companion of Florence Cassez was broadcast live on Mexican television on December 9, 2005. The surreal sequence, during which three hostages are released, took place in his ranch located near the Mexican capital where the French national was. But the couple had actually been arrested the day before, when they were in a van on the highway that connects Mexico City to Cuernavaca.

Israel Vallarta is still alive

Israel Vallarta is accused of being the leader of the “Zodiac” gang which allegedly a dozen kidnappings and a murder. Designated as his accomplice, Florence Cassez was finally released in January 2013 after seven years of legal imbroglio. Which is not the case with the Mexican. Still alive, Israel Vallarta is imprisoned in the maximum security federal prison of Peunte Grande, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. 51 years old, he is still in preventive detention. A detention measure that consists of imprisoning people accused of crimes before a final court decision. In some cases, this practice may be considered abusive and constitute a violation of the presumption of innocence.

Israel Vallarta initially admitted to being the leader of the kidnapping gang, but in March 2006, he went back on his statements, claiming to have confessed under torture. From 2008 to 2009 he was defended by a private lawyer, Alejandro Cortés Gaona, but the proceedings got bogged down and he decided to defend himself. He then accepted a court-appointed lawyer who has been representing him ever since. In 2020 he was briefly released from prison and admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, but later returned to prison where he is now.