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{{Short description|French lawyer, political activist and writer (1925–2013)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Jacques Vergès
| image              = Jacques Vergès After Dark 10th July 1987.JPG
| image_size         = 
| caption            = Vergès appearing on the British TV programme ''[[After Dark (TV programme)|After Dark]]'' in 1987: "[[After Dark (TV programme)#Jacques Verg.C3.A8s and .22Klaus Barbie.22|Klaus Barbie]]"
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=y|1925|3|5}}
| birth_place        = [[Ubon Ratchathani]], [[Rattanakosin Kingdom]], [[Siam]] (now [[Thailand]])
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=y|2013|08|15|1925|3|5}}
| death_place        = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| nationality        = French and Algerian
| known_for          = Lawyer who represented well-known war criminals<ref name="bbc_Barbie">{{cite news |date=3 July 1987 |url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3/newsid_2492000/2492285.stm |title = 1987: Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie gets life |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 12 April 2008 }}</ref>
| education          = [[University of Paris]] law degree
| occupation         = Lawyer
| spouse             = [[Djamila Bouhired]]
| partner            = 
| children           = Jacques-Loys Vergès (1951), Meriem Vergès (1967), Liess Vergès (1969)
| parents            = [[Raymond Vergès]], Pham Thi Khang
| relatives          = [[Paul Vergès]] (brother)
}}

'''Jacques Vergès''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒak vɛʁʒɛs}}; 5 March 1925 – 15 August 2013) was a French-Algerian lawyer of Vietnamese origin and [[Decolonization|anti-colonial]] activist. Vergès began as a fighter in the [[French Resistance]] during World War II, under [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s [[Free France|Free French]] forces. After becoming a lawyer, he became well known for his defense of [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|FLN]] militants during the [[Algerian War|Algerian War of Independence]]. He was later involved in a number of controversial and high-profile legal cases, with a series of [[defendant]]s charged with [[terrorism]], [[Serial killer|serial murder]], [[crimes against humanity]], and [[war crime]]s. This includes [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] officer [[Klaus Barbie]], "the Butcher of Lyon", in 1987,<ref name="bbc_Barbie" /> terrorist [[Carlos the Jackal]] in 1994, and former [[Khmer Rouge]] head of state [[Khieu Samphan]] in 2008.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Jacques Vergès |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2013/08/28/jacques-verges |access-date=2022-12-12 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> He also defended infamous [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust denier]] [[Roger Garaudy]] in 1998, as well as members of the [[Red Army Faction|Baader-Meinhof gang]]. As a result of taking on such clients, he garnered criticism from members of the public, including intellectuals [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] and [[Alain Finkielkraut]], political activist [[Gerry Gable]] and Nazi hunter [[Serge Klarsfeld]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The Devil's Advocate |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-devils-advocate/ |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=cbsnews.com |date=22 April 2004}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Giry |first=Stéphanie |date=14 August 2009 |title=Against the Law |url=https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/against-law |website=Pulitzer Center}}</ref>

Vergès attracted widespread public attention in the 1950s for his use of trials as a forum for expressing views against [[French Algeria|French colonial rule in Algeria]], questioning the authority of the prosecution and causing chaos in proceedings – a method he promoted as "rupture defense" in his book ''De la stratégie judiciaire''. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1960 and temporarily lost his license to officially practice law. He was a supporter of the [[Palestinian fedayeen]] in the 1960s. He would later disappear from 1970 to 1978, without ever explaining his whereabouts during that period. An outspoken [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]], he continued his vocal political activism in the 2000s, including opposing the [[war on terror]].{{NoteTag|In ''La démocratie à visage obscène. Le vrai catéchisme de George W. Bush'', 2004, {{ISBN|2710327317}}.}} The media sensationalized his activities with the sobriquet "the [[Devil's advocate]]",{{NoteTag|The sobriquet ''The Devil's advocate'' was used by the European press to describe not only Jacques Vergès but also [[Giovanni Di Stefano (businessman)|Giovanni Di Stefano]].}} and Vergès himself contributed to his "notorious" public [[persona]] by such acts as titling his autobiography ''The Brilliant Bastard''{{NoteTag|The French epithet has sometimes been translated as "luminous bastard".}} and giving provocative replies in interviews, such as "I'd even defend [[George W. Bush|Bush]]! But only if he agrees to plead guilty."<ref name="movie_quote_1">Event occurs at 01:58:42 – {{cite video
 |people     = Director:[[Barbet Schroeder]], Interviewee:Jacques Vergès
 |date      = 12 April 2008
 |title      = Avocat de la terreur, L'
 |url        = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/
 |format     = Documentary
 |medium     = DVD
 |publisher  = Canal+ [fr]
 |access-date = 12 April 2008
}}"I can't stand a man being humiliated, even an enemy. For a lone man to be insulted by a lynch mob. I was asked: 'Would you defend Hitler?' I said 'I'd even defend Bush! But only if he agrees to plead guilty.{{'"}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{cite news |date= 12 October 2007 |url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-12-et-advocate12-story.html |title = Giving monsters a strong defense |newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date = 13 August 2008 |first=Kenneth |last = Turan }}</ref>

==Biography==
Born on 5 March 1925 in [[Ubon Ratchathani]], [[Siam]], and brought up on the island of [[Réunion]] with his twin brother [[Paul Vergès]],<ref name=NYT /><ref name="bbc_bio">{{cite news |date= 29 March 2004<!--, 11:37 GMT 12:37 UK-->|url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3578421.stm|title = Jacques Vergès: 'The Devil's advocate' |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 12 April 2008 }}</ref> Jacques Vergès was the son of Raymond Vergès, a [[French people|French]] doctor from Réunion, and a [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] teacher named Pham Thi Khang. In 1942, with his father's encouragement, he sailed to [[Liverpool]] to become part of the [[Free French Forces]] under [[Charles de Gaulle]], and to participate in the anti-Nazi resistance.<ref name="movie_quote_2">Event occurs at 00:04:04 – {{cite video
 |people     = Director:[[Barbet Schroeder]], Interviewee:Jacques Vergès
 |date      = 12 April 2008
 |title      = Avocat de la terreur, L'
 |url        = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/
 |format     = Documentary
 |medium     = DVD
 |publisher  = Canal+ [fr]
 |access-date = 12 April 2008
 |id         = [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/ IMDB – 1032854]
 |quote      = For France to disappear was intolerable to me. That's why I enlisted. }}</ref> He went on to fight in Italy, France, and Germany.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Fejto |first=François |date=1964 |title=A Maoist in France: Jacques Vergès and Revolution |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/651506 |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=19 |issue=19 |pages=120–127 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000042156 |jstor=651506 |s2cid=153675195 |issn=0305-7410|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After the end of [[World War II]] he entered the [[University of Paris]], where he enrolled in the ''[[Faculté des lettres de Paris|Faculté des lettres]]'' pursuing a degree in history, studying the [[Hindi]] and [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]] languages. In 1945 he joined the [[Young Communists (France)|Young Communists]] movement of the [[French Communist Party]], while his father was helping to organize the [[Communist Party of Réunion|Reunionese Communist Party]]. During this time he befriended [[Erich Honecker]], future leader of [[East Germany]], [[Henri Alleg]] and [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny|Felix Hophouet-Boigny]], future President of the [[Ivory Coast]].<ref name=":3" /> He would also marry his first wife Karine at this time. His twin brother, Paul, returned to Reunion, later becoming leader of the Communist Party there, and a member of the [[European Parliament]].<ref name="europarl">{{cite web |year=2007 |url = http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/inOut/viewOutgoing.do;jsessionid=12CB1C8C8232CDE7721859CCBCB0ED23.node1?id=1490&language=EN|title = MEP profile|publisher = [[European Union]]| access-date = 13 April 2008 }}</ref> In 1949 Jacques became president of the AEC (Association for Colonial Students), where he befriended [[Pol Pot]] and [[Khieu Samphan]].<ref name="nytimes_2007">{{cite news |date=21 October 2007 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21wwln-lede-t.html;s,%20Jacques |title = Speak No 'Evil' |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 12 April 2008 |first=Daphne |last = Merkin }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In 1950, at the request of his Communist mentors, he went to [[Prague]] to lead a youth organization for four years.<ref name="review">{{cite web |year = 2008 |url = http://european-films.net/content/view/966/118/ |title = review: L'avocat de la terreur (Terror's Advocate) (Rotterdam 2008) |publisher = european-films.net |access-date = 13 April 2008 |first = Boyd |last = van Hoeij |quote = Not mentioned either are his controversial defence of Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy and his formative work in Prague in the 1950s – in the middle of the Cold War, though possible connections with secret services and many underground organisations in countries ranging from Germany to Israel and Algeria are hinted at and explored. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080403125708/http://european-films.net/content/view/966/118/ |archive-date = 3 April 2008 |url-status = dead }}</ref> He returned to Paris, where he went on to study law, passing his final exams in 1955.<ref name=":3" /> Vergès was then elected ''Secrétaire'' of the ''[[Conférence du barreau de Paris]].''

=== Political activities ===
Arriving in Paris, Jacques Vergès joined the [[French Communist Party]] (PCF) in 1945. On 25 May 1946, Alexis de Villeneuve, who ran for the legislative elections under the [[Popular Republican Movement]] (MRP) against his father, Raymond Vergès, was assassinated in front of the cathedral of Saint-Denis in Réunion. The firearm used belonged to Raymond Vergès.<ref>[https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/l-autre-secret-de-jacques-verges-17-08-2013-1714878_23.php#11 L'autre secret de Jacques Vergès]</ref>

===Algerian independence movement===
{{Further|Jeanson network{{!}}Suitcase carriers}}

After returning to France, Vergès became a lawyer and quickly gained fame for his willingness to take controversial cases. During the struggle in [[Algiers]] he defended many accused of terrorism by the French government. He was a supporter of the Algerian armed independence struggle against France, comparing it to French armed resistance to the Nazi German occupation in the 1940s.
Vergès became a nationally known figure following his defence of the anti-French Algerian guerrilla [[Djamila Bouhired]] on terrorism charges: she was convicted of blowing up a café and killing eleven people inside it.<ref name="nytimes_2007"/> This is where he pioneered the [[rupture strategy]], in which he accused the prosecution of the same offenses as the defendants.<ref name="rfi_2008">{{cite web |date = 2 November 2008 |url = http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/107/article_2030.asp |title = The Jackal's defender has his own one-man show |publisher = [[Radio France Internationale]] |access-date = 9 November 2008 |last = MARCO CHOWN OVED |archive-date = 21 September 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130921064233/http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/107/article_2030.asp |url-status = dead }}</ref> She was sentenced to death but pardoned and freed following public pressure brought on by Vergès' efforts. After some years she married Vergès, who had by then converted to Islam.<ref name="alshindagah">{{cite web |year=2007 |url = http://www.alshindagah.com/novdec03/womanofdistinction.htm|title = Women of Distinction: Djamila Bouhired The Symbol of National Liberation|publisher = pub| access-date = 12 April 2008 | last=Ma'n Abul Husn }}</ref> In an effort to limit Vergès' success at defending Algerian clients, he was sentenced to two months in jail in 1960 and temporarily lost his licence to officially practice law for anti-state activities.<ref name="fpri">{{cite web|date = 14 April 2004|url = http://www.fpri.org/enotes/20040414.americawar.radu.circusverges.html|title = Saddam Circus Is Coming to Town: the Strange Story of Jacques Vergès|publisher = Foreign Policy Research Institute|access-date = 14 August 2008|last = Michael Radu|quote = At a time when France was at war, Vergès openly supported and defended terrorists and their French accomplices— that is, traitors. He was jailed for this for two months in 1960 and temporarily disbarred.|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080813084423/http://www.fpri.org//enotes/20040414.americawar.radu.circusverges.html|archive-date = 13 August 2008}}</ref> After [[Algeria]] gained its independence in 1962, Vergès obtained Algerian citizenship, going by the name of Mansour.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/jacques-verges-l-homme-aux-mille-vies-est-mort-16-08-2013-1714482_23.php|title=Jacques Vergès, l'homme aux mille vies|author=Airdj, Jamila|newspaper=Le Point|date=16 August 2013|access-date=16 August 2013|language=fr}}</ref> During the [[Algerian War]] he had become acquainted with [[Ahmed Ben Bella]] of the FLN and the first [[President of Algeria]], Swiss Nazi and financier for the FLN, [[François Genoud]], as well as [[Ahmed Huber]], a Swiss [[Religious conversion|Muslim-convert]] and Nazi who covered the war as a journalist.<ref>{{Citation |last=Schroeder |first=Barbet |title=L'avocat de la terreur |date=2007-06-06 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/ |type=Documentary, Biography, History |publisher=La Sofica Uni Etoile 3, Canal+, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) |access-date=2022-12-15}}</ref>

===Israel and the Palestinians===
In 1965, Vergès arrived in [[Israel]], seeking to represent Mahmud Hijazi ([[:he:מחמוד חיג'אזי|מחמוד חיג'אזי]]), a Palestinian member of the [[Fatah]] movement who had at the time been sentenced to death by an Israeli military court on charges of terrorism, for crossing into Israel and setting a small demolition charge near the National Water Conduit in the Galilee.<ref name="ICT">{{cite web |last1=Yaffe |first1=Aharon |title=Dr. |url=https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1030/palestinian-terrorism-1968-1978#gsc.tab=0 |website=International Institute on Counter-Terrorism |publisher=Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya |access-date=5 August 2020 |date=15 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805181020/https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1030/palestinian-terrorism-1968-1978 |archive-date=5 August 2020 |url-status=live |quote=The Palestinian Liberation Organization, commonly known as the PLO, was founded on January 1st 1965, marking its first operation. On that day, the terrorist Mahmud Hijazi was caught having placed a small demolition charge at the National Water Carrier conduit in the Galilee.}}</ref> Israel's Justice Minister [[Dov Yosef]] forbade Hijazi's being represented by a foreign lawyer. Vergès was detained at the airport and deported.<ref>[https://www.jta.org/archive/israel-refuges-entry-to-algerian-who-came-to-defend-arab-terrorist Israel Refuges Entry to Algerian Who Came to Defend Arab Terrorist]</ref> Nevertheless, though Vergès did not succeed in getting to represent Hijazi in court, his initiative generated considerable publicity and controversy which were influential in Hijazi's death sentence being eventually commuted by an appeals court. (Hijazi was later released in a 1971 [[List of Israeli prisoner exchanges|prisoner exchange]].)

===Missing years===
[[File:Jacques Vergès au théâtre de la Madeleine à Paris.jpg|thumb|Jacques Vergès at [[théâtre de la Madeleine]], in Paris, 2008.]]
From 24 February 1970 to 1978, Vergès disappeared from public view without explanation. He refused to comment about those years, remarking in an interview with ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' that "It's highly amusing that no one, in our modern police state, can figure out where I was for almost ten years."<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,591943-2,00.html |title=Interview with Notorious Lawyer Jacques Vergès: 'I Shift Events to Outside the Courtroom' |publisher=Spiegel.de |date=21 November 2008 |access-date=2016-09-30 }}</ref> Vergès was last seen at an anti-colonial rally in Paris. He left his wife, Djamila, and cut off all his ties with his friends and family. Many people wondered if he had been killed, kidnapped, become a spy, or had gone into hiding.<ref name="movie_quote_5">Event occurs at 00:50:29 – {{cite video
 |people     = Director:[[Barbet Schroeder]]
 |date      = 12 April 2008
 |title      = Avocat de la terreur, L'
 |url        = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/
 |format     = Documentary
 |medium     = DVD
 |publisher  = Canal+ [fr]
 |access-date = 12 April 2008
 |id         = [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/ IMDB – 1032854]
}}"He was last seen on 24 February 1970, at an anti-colonial rally in Paris. He made a speech and vanished. After three months, Djamila Bouhired and his friends, were sure he was dead."</ref> His whereabouts during these years have remained a mystery. Many of his close associates of the time assume that he was in Cambodia with the [[Khmer Rouge]], a rumour [[Pol Pot]] (Brother #1), [[Nuon Chea]] (Brother #2) and [[Ieng Sary]] (Brother #3)<ref name="movie_quote_3">Event occurs at 00:52:56 – {{cite video
 |people     = Director:[[Barbet Schroeder]], Interviewee: [[Ieng Sary]]
 |date      = 12 April 2008
 |title      = L'avocat de la terreur
 |url        = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/
 |format     = Documentary
 |medium     = DVD
 |publisher  = Canal+ [fr]
 |access-date = 12 April 2008
 |id         = [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/ IMDB – 1032854]
 |quote = ''The Brilliant Bastard'' In that book are two passages I remember. It says ... that Jacques Vergès could have been in Cambodia. I remember that Pol Pot wrote in the margin: No. }}</ref> have denied. There are claims that Vergès was spotted in Paris by [[Mohamed Boudia]], a contact from Algerian War and an old Communist associate, [[Jiří Pelikán (politician)|Jiří Pelikán]]. He is also alleged to have been in Switzerland at the house of François Genoud according to Ahmed Huber. He was also thought to be in several Arab countries in the company of [[Ali Hassan Salameh]] and Palestinian militant groups according to the Lebanese attorney [[Karim Pakradouni]], and exiled Algerian politician Bachir Boumaza.<ref name="movie_quote_4">Event occurs at 00:55:44 – {{cite video
 |people     = Director: [[Barbet Schroeder]], Interviewee: Pascal
 |date      = 12 April 2008
 |title      = L'avocat de la terreur 
 |url        = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/
 |format     = Documentary
 |medium     = DVD
 |publisher  = Canal+ [fr]
 |access-date = 12 April 2008
 |id         = [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032854/ IMDB – 1032854]
 |quote = It was in May 1973, ... several politicians ... were meeting at Arafat's HQ. ... Arafat suddenly looked at [Abou Hassan Salameh PLO security chief] and asked: "Who is this Vergès? What is he?" Abou Hassan Salameh answered literally: "He's an important lawyer who defends the Palestinian cause." Arafat smiled and said: "Keep working with him." My codename was "Pascal". And Vergès? "Mansour".}}</ref>

== High-profile defendants ==
After Vergès's return to public life he resumed his legal practice, taking on a variety of legal cases ranging from; Muslim children who wanted to wear [[Headscarf|headscarves]] in school, transfusion-transmitted [[HIV/AIDS]] patients contaminated by [[Contaminated haemophilia blood products|unscreened blood]], prostitutes suing their pimps for back pay to defending high profile war criminals and dictators.<ref name=":2" />

The first file that Jacques Vergès handled as a lawyer concerns Sonacotra. He engages in a "defence of rupture" (also called "strategy of rupture"), rather than what he calls the "defense of connivance", which was classically pleaded: the accused becomes the accuser, considers that the judge does not have jurisdiction or that the court does not have the legitimacy, and takes the opinion to witness.<ref>[https://hal.science/hal-02507444/document Jacques Vergès, Rupture Strategy and the ArgentineanNew Left: Circulations and Adaptations of a JudiciaryTheory]</ref>

=== Notable clients ===

Sources:<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

* [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)]]
* [[Red Army Faction]]
* [[Anis al-Naqqash]]
* [[Bernard Bonnet]]
* [[Bruno Bréguet]]
* [[Charles Sobhraj]]
* Félix Houphouët-Boigny
* [[Georges Ibrahim Abdallah]]
* [[Gnassingbé Eyadéma]]
* [[Idriss Déby]]
* [[Ilich Ramírez Sánchez]],  [[nom de guerre]] Carlos 
* [[Klaus Croissant]]
* [[Magdalena Kopp]]
* [[Omar Bongo]]
* [[Omar Raddad Affair|Omar Raddad]]
* The ex-captain [[Paul Barril]] the Élysée wiretapping affair
* Roger Garaudy
* [[Siné]]
* [[Slobodan Milošević|Slobodan Milosevic]] (legal council)
* [[Tariq Aziz]]

==== Klaus Barbie ====
The thrust of Vergès's defence in the case was that Barbie was being singled out for prosecution while the French state conveniently ignored other cases that qualified as crimes against humanity.<ref name="bbc_Barbie" /> Vergès adopted a ''[[tu quoque]]'' defense, asking the judges "is a crime against humanity to be defined as only one of Nazis against the Jews or if it applies to more serious crimes...the crimes of imperialists against people struggling for their independence?", going on to say there was nothing his client did against the Resistance that was not done by "certain French officers in Algeria" whom Vergès noted could not be prosecuted because of de Gaulle's amnesty of 1962.<ref name="auto1">Cohen, William "The Algerian War, the French State and Official Memory" pp.&nbsp;219–239 from ''Réflexions Historiques'', Vol. 28, No. 2, Summer 2002, p.&nbsp;230.</ref> As such, Vergès argued that the republic had no right to convict Barbie of anything given that French officers like the war hero General [[Jacques Massu]] had also engaged in torture and extrajudicial executions during the fight against the FLN.<ref name="auto1" /> Vergès argued in impassioned speeches before the court that the main conflict motivating history was the struggle between the [[Global North]] and the [[Global South]], and that American policy in the Vietnam war and French policy during the Algerian war were the "true face" of the West.<ref name="auto">Finkielkraut, Alain ''Remembering in Vain: The Klaus Barbie Trial and Crimes Against Humanity'', New York Columbia University Press, 2010 p.52</ref> Vergès maintained that to convict Barbie was a base act of hypocrisy for a French court as his actions were those of a typical Westerner, and therefore he could not be punished for doing merely other Westerners had done.<ref name="auto" />
[[File:Jacques Vergès et Klaus Barbie lors de son procès. Lyon 1987 (dessin de Calvi).jpg|left|thumb|Caricature of Vergès and Klaus Barbie during the trial, by Calvi]]
Besides his ''tu quoque'' defense of arguing that French actions in the Algerian War were no different from Barbie's, Vergès spent much time attempting to prove the Resistance hero [[Jean Moulin]] had been betrayed by either the Communists, the Gaullists, or both, which led him to argue Barbie was less culpable than those who had betrayed Moulin.<ref>Clinton, Alan ''Jean Moulin, 1899–1943 The French Resistance and the Republic'', London: Macmillan 2002 pages 203–204.</ref> Vergès claimed Moulin's colleagues were "playing a double game" and all those in the Resistance "whether they were anti-Gaullists or anti-Communists forgot their duty to the Resistance because of partisan political passions".<ref>Clinton, Alan ''Jean Moulin, 1899–1943 The French Resistance and the Republic'', London: Macmillan 2002 page 203.</ref> At one point, Vergès claimed that Moulin had actually wanted to be tortured to death and tipped off Barbie himself.<ref name="auto3">Clinton, Alan ''Jean Moulin, 1899–1943 The French Resistance and the Republic'', London: Macmillan, 2002. p.&nbsp;204.</ref> Under French law, defense lawyers are entitled to use competing theories in defense of their clients, unlike the prosecution who must stick to only one line of argument. Barbie was not on trial for the torture and murder of Moulin as the statute of limitations in the Moulin case had expired, but instead on trial for crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Jews from Lyons in 1942-44, for which there was no statute of limitations.<ref name="auto3" /> Barbie was on trial for his role in the arrest and deportation of 44 Jewish children from the Izieu orphanage on 6 April 1944.<ref name="auto2">Finkielkraut, Alain ''Remembering in Vain: The Klaus Barbie Trial and Crimes Against Humanity'', New York Columbia University Press, 2010 p.89</ref> Of the 44 children, 42 were killed at Auschwitz.<ref name="auto2" />

Vergès seems to have brought in the Moulin case as part of his defense of Barbie as a strategy of drawing attention from the actions that Barbie had actually been put on trial for.<ref name="auto3"/> Despite Vergès's efforts, the court found Barbie guilty of crimes against humanity, sentencing him to life imprisonment.<ref name="auto3"/> Reviewing the film ''[[Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie]]'', the film critic David Denby wrote the climax of the film was when the French filmmaker [[Marcel Ophüls]] pressed the "despicable" Vergès during an interview about his defense of Barbie, whom Denby wrote "...persists in pretending that Barbie is a victim of some sort".<ref>Denby, David "Criminal Element" pp.&nbsp;75–76 from ''New York Magazine'', 17 October 1988 p.&nbsp;76.</ref> Vergès was paid to defend Barbie by Swiss Nazi financier [[François Genoud]], whom Vergès had met during the Algerian War due to their mutual support for the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|FLN]].

==== Lawsuits against Amnesty International and François-Xavier Verschave ====
In 1999 Vergès sued [[Amnesty International]] on behalf of the government of [[Togo]].<ref name="bbc_togo">{{cite news |date=20 May 1999 <!--11:56 GMT 12:56 UK--> |title=Togo to sue Amnesty International |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/348602.stm |access-date=12 April 2008 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref> In 2001, on behalf of [[Idriss Déby]], president of [[Chad]], [[Omar Bongo]], president of [[Gabon]], and [[Denis Sassou-Nguesso]], President of the [[Republic of the Congo]], he sued [[François-Xavier Verschave]] for his book ''Noir silence'' denouncing the crimes of the ''[[Françafrique]]'' on the charges of "offense toward a foreign state leader", using an arcane 1881 law.<ref name="bbc_Verschave">{{cite news |date = 25 April 2001<!--, 14:05 GMT 15:05 UK-->|url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1295740.stm |title = French author wins Africa book case |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 12 April 2008 }}</ref> The attorney general observed how this crime recalled the [[lese majesty]] crime; the court thus deemed it contrary to the [[European Convention on Human Rights]], thus leading to Verschave's acquittal.<ref name="bbc_Verschave" />

==== Khieu Samphan ====
[[File:Jacques Vergès - 21 November 2011 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Vergès on the first day of opening statements for the Samphan trial in 2011]]
In April 2008, former [[Khmer Rouge]] head of state [[Khieu Samphan]], and old associate of Vergès, made his first appearance at Cambodia's genocide tribunal. Vergès represented Samphan, using the defence that, while Samphan has never denied that many people in Cambodia were killed, as head of state he was not directly responsible.<ref name="BBC_Khmer_Rouge">{{cite news |date=<!--07:33 GMT--> 23 April 2008 |url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7362248.stm |title = Khmer Rouge leader seeks release |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 23 April 2008 }}</ref>

==== Saddam Hussein ====
After the US-led coalition forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 and deposed [[Saddam Hussein]], many former leaders in the [[Ba'athist Iraq|Baathist regime]] were arrested. In late 2003, Vergès offered to defend Hussein after he was approached by Saddam's nephew who was putting a legal team together.<ref name=":1" /> However, the Hussein family opted not to use Vergès.<ref name="bbc_defence_team">{{cite news |date= 8 August 2005<!--, 12:22 GMT 13:22 UK-->|url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4131474.stm |title = Saddam family slims defence team |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 14 August 2008 }}</ref>

In May 2008, [[Tariq Aziz]] assembled a team that included Vergès as well as a French-Lebanese and four Italian lawyers.<ref name="bbc_new_legal_team">{{cite news |date=<!--09:33 GMT--> 20 May 2008 |url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7409933.stm |title = Tariq Aziz trial resumes in Iraq |publisher = BBC News |access-date = 20 May 2008 }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Jacques Vergès was married twice. He had a son with his first wife, Karine. He would go on to marry his client Djamila Bouhired, having two children with her.<ref name=":2" />

According to ''[[The Economist]]'', "history was his first love, and he still sometimes dreamed of deciphering [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] or [[Linear A]], unfolding the secrets of mysterious civilizations."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2013/08/28/jacques-verges|title=Jacques Vergès|date=28 August 2013|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>

In 2002, he called former Serbian leader [[Slobodan Milošević]] "extremely likeable".{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} In January 2008, he personally supported [[Tomislav Nikolić]], nationalist leader of the [[Serbian Radical Party]].<ref>[https://www.lexpress.fr/monde/a-belgrade-verges-soutient-le-candidat-ultranationaliste_469448.html A Belgrade, Vergès soutient le candidat ultranationaliste]</ref>

== Death ==
[[File:Jacques Vergès tombe.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Jacques Vergès at the [[cemetery of Montparnasse]]]]
Jacques Vergès died on 15 August 2013 of a heart attack in Paris at the age of 88.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/europe/jacques-verges-88-defender-of-war-criminals-and-terrorists.html | work=The New York Times | first=Robert D. | last=McFadden | title=Jacques Vergès, Defender of Terrorists And War Criminals, Is Dead at 88 |date=16 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20130816-controversial-french-lawyer-verges-dies-88|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054028/http://www.france24.com/en/20130816-controversial-french-lawyer-verges-dies-88|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 September 2013|title=Controversial French lawyer Verges dies at 88 – FRANCE 24|date=21 September 2013}}</ref> His funeral was attended by [[Roland Dumas]] and [[Dieudonné (comedian)|Dieudonné]]. Vergès is buried in the [[Montparnasse Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/roland-dumas-et-dieudonne-aux-obseques-de-jacques-verges-20-08-2013-3067091.php |title=VIDEO. Obsèques religieuses pour "l'avocat du diable", Jacques Vergès |publisher=Leparisien.fr |language = fr |date=20 August 2013 |access-date=2016-09-30 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*In 1987 Vergès appeared on [[After Dark (TV series)#Jacques Vergès and "Klaus Barbie"|an episode]] of the live British discussion television programme ''[[After Dark (TV series)|After Dark]]'' alongside, among others, [[Eli Rosenbaum]], [[Neal Ascherson]], [[Philippe Daudy]] and [[Paul Oestreicher]].
*Vergès was interviewed in the documentary [[Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie]], directed by [[Marcel Ophuls]].
*Vergès was portrayed by {{ill|Nicolas Briançon|fr}} in the 2010 French film ''[[Carlos (TV miniseries)|Carlos]]''.

==Bibliography==
===Books written by Vergès (English language)===
Note: Few works by Vergès have been translated into English. 
* Mervyn Jones, ''Ordeal : The Trial of Djamila Bouhired, Condemned to Death, Algiers, July 15th, 1957'',  	London, Union of Democratic Control Publications, c. 1958, 1979. "With the complete text of the speech for the defence, by Jacques Vergès."

===Books written by Vergès (French language)===
* ''Pour Djamila Bouhired'', with Georges Arnaud, Éditions de Minuit, 1957.
* ''Le droit et la colère'', with Michel Zavrian & Maurice Courrégé, Éditions de Minuit, Paris, coll. « Documents », 1960.
* ''Le crime de colonialisme. Colloque de Rome, 2, 3, 4, février 1962'', in Revue Les Temps modernes (N°190), Gallimard, Paris, March 1962.
* ''De la stratégie judiciaire'', Éditions de Minuit, Paris, coll. « Documents », 1968.
* ''Pour les fidayine. La résistance palestinienne'', Éditions de Minuit, Paris, coll. « Documents », Paris, 1969.
* ''Agenda'', Paris, Simoen, 1979
* ''Pour en finir avec Ponce Pilate'', Le Pré aux clercs, 1983
* ''La Face cachée du procès Barbie. Compte-rendu des débats de Ligoure'' (with Étienne Bloch), S. Tastet, coll. «  Formule rompue », 1983
* ''Beauté du crime'', Plon, Paris 1988
* ''[https://archive.org/details/jedefendsbarbie0000verg Je défends Barbie]'' (preface by Jean-Edern Hallier), Jean Picollec, Paris, coll. « Documents dossiers », 1988
* ''[https://archive.org/details/lesalaudlumineux0000verg Le Salaud lumineux]'', Michel Lafon, 1 January 1990
* ''La Justice est un jeu'', Éditions Albin Michel, 1992
* ''Lettre ouverte à des amis algériens devenus tortionnaires'', Éditions Albin Michel, coll. « Lettre ouverte », 1993
* ''Mon Dieu pardonnez-leur'', Michel Lafon, 1995
* ''Intelligence avec l'ennemi'', Michel Lafon, 1996
* ''J'ai plus de souvenirs que si j'avais mille ans'', Éditions 84, 1999
* ''Nocturne. Poésie'', Éditions Olbia, 2001 (ISBN 978-2719105368)
* Avocat du diable, avocat de Dieu (entretiens avec Alain de La Morandais), Paris : Presses de la Renaissance, 2000 (ISBN 978-2-85616787-8)
* ''Un procès de la barbarie à Brazzaville'' (co-author Dior Diagne), Jean Picollec, 2000
* ''Noir silence, blancs mensonges'', Jean Picollec, Paris, 2001
* ''Les Sanguinaires : sept affaires célèbres'', J'ai lu, 2001
* ''Omar m'a tuer – histoire d'un crime'', J'ai lu, 2001
* ''L'Apartheid judiciaire'', with Pierre Marie Gallois, L'Âge d'homme, Lausanne 2002
* ''Le Suicide de la France'', Olbia, 2002
* ''Dictionnaire amoureux de la justice'', Plon, coll. « Dictionnaire amoureux », 2002
* ''Les Erreurs judiciaires'', Presses universitaires de France – PUF, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 2002
* ''Justice pour le peuple serbe'', L'Âge d'Homme, coll. « Collection Objections », 2003
* ''La Démocratie à visage obscène : le vrai catéchisme de George W. Bush'', La Table ronde, 2004
* ''Les Crimes d'État et comédie judiciaire'', Plon, 2004
* ''Passent les jours et passent les semaines : Journal de l'année 2003-2004'', Plon, 2005
* ''Jacques Vergès, l'anticolonialiste'' (conversations with Philippe Karim Felissi), Paris : le Félin, coll. « Histoire et sociétés », 2005 (ISBN 2-86645-584-3)
* ''Malheur aux pauvres'', Plon, 2006 (ISBN 978-2259199223)
* ''Crimes contre l'humanité massacres en Côte d’Ivoire'', Pharos, 276 p., avril 2006
* ''Que mes guerres étaient belles !'', Éditions du Rocher, 2007 (ISBN 978-2268060989)
* ''Journal : La passion de défendre'', Éditions du Rocher, 2008 (ISBN 978-2268065069)
* ''Justice et littératur''e, Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Questions judiciaires », 2011 (ISBN 978-2130575382)
* ''« Crimes et fraudes » en Côte d'Ivoire'', Édite, 2011 (ISBN 978-2-84608-306-5)
* ''Sarkozy sous BHL'' (with Roland Dumas), Éditions Pierre-Guillaume de Roux, 2011, 128 p.
* ''De mon propre aveu'', Éditions Pierre-Guillaume de Roux, 2013 (ISBN 978-2-36371-053-6)

===Books and theses about Jacques Vergès (English language)===
* Jonathan Widell, [https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/fn107313r Jacques Vergès, devil's advocate: a psychohistory of Vergès' judicial strategy], Doctor of Civil Law thesis, McGill University, 2012

===Books and theses about Jacques Vergès (French language)===
* Emmanuelle Bosc, ''Jacques Vergès: la plaidoirie de l'indéfendable par la dénonciation de l'inavouable'', sn, 1992
* Robert Charvin, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8tspugn73rwC Jacques Vergès : un aristocrate de refus]'', Paris: Editions L'Harmattan, 2013
* François Dessy, ''Jacques Vergès, l’ultime plaidoyer : conversations entre confrères avec maître François Dessy'', Editions de l'Aube, 2014
* Véronique Martin, ''Jacques Vergès envers et contre tous'', Paris: Editions de Verneuil, 1999
* Bernard Violet and Robert Jégaden, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_WAWAQAAIAAJ Vergès: le maître de l'ombre]'', Paris: Seuil, 2000

==Filmography==
*[[Terror's Advocate|''L'Avocat de la terreur'' (Terror's Advocate)]], a 2007 documentary about Vergès, directed and narrated by [[Barbet Schroeder]].
* Nigel Kendall, Terror's Advocate, ''[[The Times]]'', 13 September 2008
* Jamie Kessler, Films in Brief: Terror's Advocate, ''[[Columbia Political Review]]'', 2 December 2007

==See also==
{{Portal|Communism|Algeria}}
*[[List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* Robert Chalmers, [https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/jacques-verges "Meet Jacques Verges: the lawyer who defended dictators and terrorists for crimes against humanity"], ''[[GQ Magazine]]'', August 2020.
* Angelique Chrisafis, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/jacques-verges "Jacques Vergès obituary"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 17 August 2013
* Robert D. McFadden, [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/europe/jacques-verges-88-defender-of-war-criminals-and-terrorists.html "Jacques Vergès, Defender of Terrorists And War Criminals, Is Dead at 88"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 16 August 2013
* [https://www.france24.com/en/20130816-france-devils-advocate-lawyer-jacques-verges-dies "French 'Devil’s advocate' Jacques Vergès dies"], [[France 24]], 16 August 2013.
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jacques-verges-dies-french-lawyer-defended-despised-criminals/2013/08/16/879049d2-ec00-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html "Jacques Vergès, French lawyer who defended despised criminals, dies"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 16 August 2013.
* [https://www.economist.com/obituary/2013/08/28/jacques-verges Obituary: Jacques Vergès], ''[[The Economist]]'', 24 August 2013
* Alan Riding, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/movies/14ridi.html?pagewanted=print "A Life of Smoke and Mystery"], ''The New York Times'', 14 October 2007
* Britta Sandberg, [https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-62127284.html »Ich, der brillante Drecksack«] (interview, in German). In: ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', 1962 (2008), 47, 17 November 2008, {{ISSN|0038-7452}}.
* Brita Sandberg and Eric Follath, [https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-notorious-lawyer-jacques-verges-there-is-no-such-thing-as-absolute-evil-a-591943.html There is no such thing as absolute evil], interview, ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', 21 November 2008
*Stéphanie Giry, [https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/against-the-law-1.537332 Against the Law], ''[[The Nation]]'', 14 August 2009; also: [http://pulitzercenter.org/articles/against-law Against the Law], [[Pulitzer Center]]
* Chris Tenove, [https://justiceinconflict.org/2013/08/26/meeting-the-devils-advocate-an-interview-with-jacques-verges/ Meeting the Devil's Advocate: An Interview with Jacques Vergès], Justice in Conflict, 26 August 2013.
* [https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/persons/mr-jacques-verg%C3%A8s Mr. Jacques Vergès], at [[Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia]]
*[http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/ Cambodia Tribunal Monitor]
*{{IMDb name|1605230}}

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