From time to time you come across an individual who leaves you wondering what everything is about; who challenges your perceptions on major issues, usually things that you've only seen from a safe distance, on tv or read about in the paper, through their own attitudes and behaviour.
Jacques Vergès one of the most controversial French-Algerian lawyers of the last century died yesterday, in Paris. There are many articles and features about him in the French media today. He became famous in the 1950s as an anti-colonial communist and then assumed the role of defence lawyer for themselves some of the most controversial figures of our times - left wing and right wing terrorists, the former Khmer Rouge head of state, Carlos the Jackal, Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, Klaus Barbi - Nazi war criminal. It's an extraordinary life and career and a deeply unsettling one.
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