Freed Frenchwoman heads home from Mexico

A FRENCHWOMAN who spent seven years in a Mexican jail is flying home after her kidnapping conviction and 60-year sentence were overturned.

Florence Cassez's trial made her a cause celebre in France, where two consecutive presidents called for her release. Anti-crime activists in Mexico vigorously opposed the decision to free her.

Cassez's flight left Mexico City at 9.25pm on Wednesday (1425 AEDT Thursday) and was expected in Paris about 10 hours later.

Cassez, 38, was arrested in 2005 and convicted of helping her Mexican former boyfriend run a kidnapping gang.

Relatives of kidnap victims angrily shouted "killer!" as a police convoy with sirens and flashing lights escorted a 4WD away from a prison.

In France, Cassez's mother, Charlotte, said: "I'm crazy with happiness. I can't say anything else. I'm still struggling to believe it."

A Mexican Supreme Court panel voted 3-2 to release Cassez because of procedural and rights violations during her arrest, including police staging a recreation of her capture for the media.

The judges did not rule on her guilt or innocence, but said the violations of due process, the right to consular assistance and evidentiary rules were so grievous that they invalidated the guilty verdict.

"I want to recognise the Mexican justice system because it put the law first," French President Francois Hollande said on television. "That was the trust we put in it. And today we can say that between France and Mexico, we have the best relations that it is possible to have."

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a statement that he "absolutely" respected the court's decision.

Agustin Acosta, a lawyer for Cassez, called the ruling "a resounding message in favour of justice and respect for human rights".

The wife of one kidnap victim showed up on Wednesday as reporters gathered outside the prison where Cassez had been held. Michelle Valadez said her husband, Ignacio, was kidnapped and held for three months by Cassez's boyfriend's gang in 2005.

"We paid the ransom, but they killed him anyway," she sobbed. "It's not fair what they've done to us. It's not fair they're freeing her."

Mexico has one of the world's highest kidnapping rates, and there has been increasing public pressure to halt what is seen as widespread impunity for criminals.

At least one victim identified Cassez as one of the kidnappers, though only by hearing her voice, not by seeing her.

It was not immediately clear how the ruling might affect the case against Cassez's ex-boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, who is charged with leading the gang and is being tried separately.

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