When aerial hijackers delivered Moise Tshombe to an Algerian jail this month, his wife turned to one of the few men who might have saved her husband from extradition to the Congoand almost certain death. Parisian Lawyer René Edmond Floriot, 64, faced appalling odds: the Congolese had already convicted Tshombe of not only treason but also murder and robbery. With eloquence, Floriot contended that the Congolese had actually amnestied Tshombe last fall. But last week he lost.
Though Tshombe could not be extradited for purely political reasons, ruled the Algerian Supreme Court,...