William Bourdon

William Bourdon, (born 1956), is a French lawyer of the Paris Bar Association who practices criminal law, especially specializing in white-collar crime, communications law and human rights. He particularly specializes in defending the victims of globalization and crimes against humanity. He has been with Bourdon Simoni Voituriez since 1979.[1]

Family and education

William Bourdon is the son of engineer and manufacturer Philippe Bourdon, the grandson of Pierre Bourdon, former Michelin chief engineer, and the great-grandson of manufacturer Édouard Michelin, founder of groupe Michelin.

He studied at Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, then at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He holds a master's degree (Droit privé) and is a graduate of the 'Institut d'études politiques de Paris

Professional and Association activities

William Bourdon was adjunct secretary-general (1994–1995), then secretary-general of the Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme (International Federation of the Rights of Man) from 1995 to 2000. In October 2001, he founded Sherpa, whose goal is to "defend the victims of crimes committed by economic operators." He is also currently the organization's president. Sherpa is involved in France Libertés; William Bourdon is a member of the Conseil d'administration (administrative council) of France Libertés and the longtime lawyer of Danielle Mitterrand.

William Bourdon furthermore was the lawyer for Transparency International, the association Survie and the Fédération des Congolais de la Diaspora (FCD). He has ties to unusual traveller's aid associations, notably the Cimade, on whose behalf he intervened as an observer in 1992.

William Bourdon worked in criminal law in the 1980s, for example with

He then specialized in human rights (SOS Racisme, Chinese opponents, genocide in Rwanda, Augusto Pinochet; protesters, partisans of social struggle or ultra-left militants.

In 2006, he defended SUD PTT trade unionist Cyril Ferez who, he said, "took a real beating" from 15 or so CRS officers (riot police) over an extended period of time. He also defended Yildune Lévy,[3] a close friend of Julien Coupat in the sabotage of SNCF catenary lines,[4] two French detainees at Guantánamo sentenced by French justice.,[5] or the Organisation des moudjahiddines du peuple iranien.

En 2009, William Boudon defended André Barthélemy, president of "Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme" sent back down to the Tribunal correctionnel of Bobigny for directly inciting rebellion and deliberately impeding the movement of an aircraft, for having opposed the conditions under which two Congolese nationals were escorted back to the border.[6]

He defended police commandant Philippe Pichon, accused of leaking the police record files of two stars, D. Debbouze et Johnny Hallyday, to publicize and denounce the system's flaws. Its error rate was said to exceed 40%.[7]

William Bourdon also initiated, in 2000,[8] in the name of the FIDH, the charges and guilty verdict in Sénégal of torture and crimes against l'humanity targeting Hissène Habré. In December 2008, after the failure of complaints against Omar Bongo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso et Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Sherpa et Transparency international filed a complaint against X on the conditions under which a lot of fixed and liquid assets were acquired in France by these African heads of state.

In March 2007, William Bourdon called for votes for presidential election candidate Ségolène Royal in a petition published by the Nouvel Observateur.[9]

In April 2009, he participated in a campaign meeting for the European elections of the Europe Écologie movement (List managed by Daniel Cohn-Bendit) at the side of Eva Joly. He proclaimed: "I want to be free of everyone. I do not want to fit in any system."

n 2012, William Bourdon again grew closer to the Socialist Party and participated in the campaign team of François Hollande.

In 2014, he briefly joined the "Nouvelle Donne" party.

Trial implicating Libyan state or interests

In 2005 he defended,[10] Motassim Bilal " Hannibal " Kadhafi, son of Colonel Mouammar Kadhafi, sentenced May 23, 2005 by the 10th Chamber of the Tribunal correctionnel de Paris to four months imprisonment, suspended, for domestic violence.[11]

On October 25, 2007, he filed a defamation complaint "avec constitution de partie civile" against Jeune Afrique[10] and its editor-in-chief, François Soudan, on behalf of Moussa Koussa, head of the Libyan foreign intelligence service. The complaint was voluntarily withdrawn April 10, 2009.[12]

The arrêt of the chambre d'accusation of Paris, the investigative arm of the court of appeal, on October 20, 2000 authorized the complaint of the victims of UTA Flight 772 against Muammar Gaddafi. Considering that "originally absolute, the immunity of heads of state has, since the end of the Second World War, had limits,"[13] William Bourdon declared in an interview with Libération that the arrêt might create "confusion", since only three crimes have universally justified lifting presidential immunity: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes: "Terrorism is a very subjective crime. If one reasons in this manner, Yasser Arafat could be pursued," observed Maître Bourdon, underlining that terrorism and narcotics trafficking were deliberately omitted when the International Criminal Court (ICC) was created. In keeping with this point, the parquet général asked the Court of Cassation to pronounce for the first time on the controversial question of the immunity of heads of state. This motion does not require suspending the current investigation.

Other biography

Filmography as himself

Bibliography

Notes and references

  1. ↑ http://www.lawinfrance.com/articles/BOURDON-SIMONI-VOITURIEZ.html
  2. ↑ Crignon, Anne (September 1, 1995). "Portrait : William Bourdon". Libération. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Les dix de Tarnac demandent l'annulation de la procédure]". Le Figaro. September 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ Des éléments compromettent les Tarnac dans les sabotage de la SNCF, site de RTL
  5. ↑ Un an de prison ferme pour cinq des six de Guantanamo, Rue89, December 19, 2007
  6. ↑ Opposition à l'expulsion d'immigrés trois mois avec sursis Site du Nouvel Obs, February 20, 2009
  7. ↑ "L'ex-policier Philippe Pichon jugé pour avoir divulgué les fiches de J. Debbouze et J. Hallyday".
  8. ↑ Hissène Habré jugé au Sénégal, L'express 3 février 2000
  9. ↑ "Avant qu'il ne soit trop tard". Nouvel Observateur. March 1, 2007.
  10. 1 2 "Moussa Koussa attaque JA". Jeune Afrique. June 16, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Le Fils Kadhafi condamné à Paris". NouvelObs.
  12. ↑ "Abandon de poursuites contre Jeune Afrique". Jeune Afrique. April 17, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Bruguière aux trousses de Kadhafi". Libération. November 1, 2000.


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