Jacques Verges, called ‘Devil’s advocate’ for defending the indefensible in court, dies at 88

PARIS – A French publishing house says Jacques Verges, called the “Devil’s advocate” for his flamboyant courtroom defence of the likes of former Nazi Klaus Barbie and Carlos the Jackal, has died.

Verges, 88, died Thursday of cardiac arrest in the Paris bedroom of Voltaire, the Enlightenment philosopher famed for his attacks on the establishment, according to Pierre-Guillaume de Roux, which published Verges’ memoir “My Confessions.”

Celebrated and excoriated for defending the indefensible, Verges defended Barbie, the former Gestapo captain, in his 1984 trial. He also defended ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic and former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.

In a 2011 trial of former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, Verges compared descriptions of atrocities to something out of an Alexandre Dumas novel.

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