Paul Touvier, accused of committing crimes against humanity as head of a French pro-Nazi militia in Lyon during World War II, was arrested Wednesday morning in southern France, police sources said.
The sources said Touvier, 74, was captured at an abbey near Nice. There have been persistent reports for years that extreme-right Roman Catholics were protecting him.In Nice, police confirmed that Touvier was under arrest and being questioned at headquarters.
"We see this with great satisfaction," Beate Klarsfeld, France's best-known Nazi hunter, said of the arrest. "It's a great bravo for French justice."
Touvier was sentenced to death in absentia in 1945 and 1947 on convictions of collaborating with the Nazis and executing and torturing members of the resistence as Lyon head of the Milice.
The Milice had worked closely during the Nazi occupation with the Gestapo, which was at the time headed in Lyon by Klaus Barbie, who was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity in 1987.