A Child of Nurture

JOBARD-NIKO/SIPA

Jean-Christophe denies the charges of involvement in arms trading

If the late french President François Mitterrand was criticized for the regal manner in which he occupied his office, the activities of his eldest son also seem characteristic of a royal family — of the dysfunctional kind. Just nine months after his release from provisional detention for suspected involvement in illegal arms trafficking, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, in a new book, exonerates himself not only of those charges but also of his life in general. In Mémoire Meurtrie (Battered Memory) , Mitterrand fils, 54, casts himself as — what else? — a victim, first of a hard, cynical family, and then of outsiders hoping...

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