Frenchman Accused of Kidnapping Man Linked to Daughter's Death

PARIS, Oct. 22, 2009 — -- For André Bamberski, the 27-year battle to bring his daughter's killer to justice has finally ended. But the day he has long awaited may also be the beginning of his own battle with the French justice system.

In 1995, German Dr. Dieter Krombach, who was the companion of Bamberski's estranged wife, was convicted in absentia in Paris for the death of Bamberski's daughter Kalinka, who died at Krombach's house July 9, 1982. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Germans refused to prosecute Krombach, or extradite him to France, citing insufficient evidence.

So Bamberski allegedly took matters into his own hands. On Sunday morning, Krombach, now 74, was found tied up, beaten and gagged on a small street near the courthouse of Mulhouse, France, near the French-German border.

The now retired cardiologist, who lives in Scheidegg, Germany, had been kidnapped from his home a few hours before he was found in France, police say.

Very quickly, all eyes turned on 71-year-old Bamberski, a retired certified public accountant, who happened to be in Mulhouse the same day Krombach was found. Bamberski was arrested and Tuesday night placed under investigation for "kidnapping, voluntary assault and battery, false imprisonment and criminal conspiracy." He could face up to 10 years in jail.

"I can confirm that I gave my consent for him to be brought to France. But I did not participate" in the kidnapping, Bamberski told reporters outside the Mulhouse courthouse after he was released on probation.

Krombach was a well-known physician who worked in German embassies in several countries. All these years Bamberski has insisted that Kalinka's death was caused by injections administered by Krombach who intended to drug and rape Kalinka. Despite several reported troubling elements revealed by the post-mortem examination of the body, German investigators closed the case, citing an inability to determine the young girl's cause of death.

For 27 years, Bamberski never stopped fighting to get his daughter's killer to face justice. He hired private investigators who tracked Krombach in several countries over the years. Since his daughter's death, not one day has passed, he has said, without visiting her grave at the cemetery of Pechbusque, in southwest France, where he lives.

In 1984, Bamberski filed a formal complaint for first-degree murder. But it was not until 1995 that the German doctor was found guilty by a French court of "acts of violence causing unintentional death," but not murder, much to Bamberski's despair. But despite an international warrant for his arrest and the fact that Krombach's address was known, German authorities refused to cooperate with France. The German doctor was never extradited and never served his prison sentence in France.

Father of Murdered Daughter Is Suspect in Kidnapping

Police have said Bamberski is believed to have had regular phone conversations with people who could be the kidnappers. Also in his Mulhouse hotel room, police say they seized 19,000 Euros ($28,500)in cash.

Bamberski supporters are sympathetic. "He is very tired but he is also very serene because he has the feeling that he did what he had to do. He is not happy with the way things went, but he was not given the possibility to act otherwise," Robert Pince, president of the group "Justice for Kalinka," told ABCNews.com. "Andre is someone profoundly religious, honest; he wants Krombach to be tried because it is a question of justice in memory of his daughter. That's all," he added.

Today, Agence France Presse citing the public prosecutor's office of Kempten, Germany, reported that a 38-year-old man turned himself in to Austrian police admitting participation in Krombach's kidnapping. The suspect has revealed accomplices who are not identified at this time, AFP said.

Krombach was transferred to Paris today. Under French law, someone convicted in absentia is automatically retried from the moment the person is arrested on French soil.

But Krombach's lawyer, Francois Serres, told The Associated Press he cannot believe his client would be tried after being dragged illegally across the border. Authorities must decide if "he has to be retried or not," he told the AP. "If French authorities don't trust the German justice system, they should say so," Serres told French Radio.

Since Kalinka's death, Krombach has reportedly added to his criminal record. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison for fraud in July 2007 in Germany. Also in 1997 he received a two-year suspended jail sentence for sexually abusing a 16-year-old patient after he administered an anesthetic in his office.