Although French President François Hollande has ruled out the payment of reparations for slavery, a leading civil society group says it is planning to sue a state body for the role it played prior to the abolition of the French slave trade in the 19th century. The Representative Council of Black Associations - better known as the CRAN - says the French state was an accomplice to a crime against humanity. Even though slavery is still hotly debated in both political and academic circles, legal experts believe the court action has little chance of making any headway. RFI spoke to Philip Morgan, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University with expertise on the slave trade.
