On 19 September 2024, François Zimeray and Catalina de la Sota filed a complaint for crimes against humanity with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on behalf of two victims, a year after Azerbaijan attacked the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and forced the displacement of almost its entire population.
François Zimeray is one of the lawyers for Paul Watson :
“Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd organization, was arrested in Greenland on July 21. Japan is currently seeking his extradition based on a 2012 Interpol arrest warrant. Meanwhile, Watson’s attorney, François Zimeray, held an online interview with The Sankei Shimbun and JAPAN Forward to discuss the case.
In the interview, Zimeray, a French lawyer who also represented former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, argued, “We cannot expect a fair trial in Japan.” He indicated he intends to continue fighting in the Greenland courts to prevent Watson’s extradition to Japan. […]
Zimeray himself is a somewhat political figure. He is a former French ambassador to Denmark and lawer for ex-Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. During our interview, he argued, “Japan’s relentless pursuit of Watson far exceeds the severity of the charges.” (The Interpol warrant is based on charges of assault and obstruction for interfering with scientific whaling and causing property damage and personal injury.) “This is nothing more than political retaliation for challenging whaling,” Watson’s lawyer claimed […]”.
Jessica Finelle et François Zimeray sont les conseils de la famille de Tiphaine Véron, disparue le 29 juillet 2018 lors d’un voyage au Japon.
“Désormais, c’est le cabinet Zimeray & Finelle” qui accompagne les Véron. Il a travaillé pour Carlos Ghosn mais est spécialisé dans les enlèvements d’enfants entre deux parents de nationalités différentes.
“Nous avions besoin d’avoir une expertise internationale, notamment parce que tout ne passera pas par le pôle “cold case”, mais aussi grâce à l’ONU, à l’Union Européenne et à nos enquêteurs privés”, précise Damien Véron”.
Jessica Finelle discussed parental abduction in Japan on the Find My Parent podcast.
After several months of a procedure under pressure, Jessica Finelle and François Zimeray, together with Etienne Arnaud, obtained from the Chambéry Court of Appeal a decision dated 30 March 2023 refusing their client’s extradition to Ukraine.
“It is clear that the junta’s goal is for her to die in prison,” French lawyers François Zimeray and Jessica Finelle who represent Suu Kyi, said in a statement.
Zimeray & Finelle’s insight on the guilty plea concluded between Lafarge and the US DOJ on 18 October 2022, and its implications on the French criminal proceedings : “The Lafarge case is prototypical of a profound evolution of business law, highlighted by the criminal liability of companies for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. Hence, it is being followed with attention by all those who, from outside the case, see in it the foreshadowing of a new risk and the development of a new field of law, “business and human rights”. It is in this spirit that we share the concerns raised by the agreement recently concluded by the company with American judicial authorities, as part of a guilty plea partly based on similar facts to the current French procedure”.
Zimeray & Finelle Avocats has petitioned the UN and denounced Aung San Suu Kyi’s «judicial kidnapping », perpetrated by the Burmese military junta.
“The petition seeks for the UN to call on the US government to release Maxwell pending trial and to urge an independent investigation into her “arbitrary detention.” (…)
In addition to the jail conditions, Zimeray and Finelle argued that Maxwell will never be given a fair trial because she has been convicted in the court of public opinion — and that prosecutors have not tried to show she is presumed innocent.”