French judges have jailed Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son and one-time African affairs adviser to the late President Francois Mitterrand, in a widening probe of suspected illegal arms sales to Angola.
Mitterrand is being held on suspicion of influence peddling, complicity in arms trafficking and abuse of confidence and company funds.
Jailing a public figure freshly put under judicial investigation, a step just short of being charged, is a rare step in France.
But increasingly daring magistrates have begun resorting to it in a campaign to investigate charges of high-level corruption that used to be ignored.
Mitterrand, a former news agency correspondent in Africa, was his father's African strategy adviser from 1986 to 1992.
The investigation into the arms sales, sparked by evidence found during searches linked to an unrelated scandal of political party slush funds, has widened recently to touch several well-known figures with African links.
Mitterand son in jail
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.