Editing Jacques Vergès (section)

{{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 = http://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>