PARIS, Sept 18: Maurice Papon, 92, who had been sentenced to a 10-year jail term in 1998 for crimes against humanity, has been released from jail by a French appeals court on medical grounds.

The decision was so unexpected that even Papon’s attorney, Jean-Marc Varaut, was caught off guard.

Papon, who was found guilty during a much-publicized trial in 1998 for a role in the deportation and death of 1,600 Jews during the Secons World War became the first former official of the wartime government of German-occupied France to be sentenced to jail for crimes against humanity.

He always claimed to be innocent of the charges brought against him, saying that as far as he was concerned, he should have been praised for the important role he played in the resistance organized by General de Gaulle.

Mr Papon will now be able to reside at his palatial residence in Paris, not far away from Eurodisneyland. “He will be in no way under house arrest,” assured Mr Varaut.