ALMOLOYA DE JUÁREZ, Mexico, Aug 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Mexican man walked free after nearly 20 years behind bars Friday, finally acquitted in a case that strained relations with France and became emblematic of delayed justice in the Latin American country.

Israel Vallarta had been held in preventive custody since his 2005 arrest alongside his former girlfriend Florence Cassez, a French woman who was freed in 2013.

"I'm still in shock," Vallarta said as he emerged from the federal prison in Almoloya de Juarez in Mexico State, embracing his family.

"It's been almost 20 years, there is no justice," his wife Mary Sainz told AFP.

Vallarta was accused of running a kidnapping gang known as the Zodiacs, while Cassez was alleged to be involved in its activities.

Mexican television showed video of police storming a ranch near Mexico City on December 9, 2005, where they detained Cassez and freed three hostages as cameras rolled.

Interviewed on the spot, the slight, red-haired woman looked surprised as she said: "I have nothing to do with this. I'm not his wife. I didn't know anything!"

It was later revealed Cassez had actually been arrested on a road hours before the raid, and police said the re-enactment was made at the request of the media.

In 2013, Mexico's Supreme Court ordered Cassez released, citing violations of her civil rights in the staging of her arrest on live television.

The case generated a diplomatic spat with France and became a symbol of the problematic justice system of Mexico, where many crimes go unsolved and authorities are frequently accused of corruption and abuse.

Former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had cited the case as justification for his controversial justice reform that saw Mexico become the only country in the world to elect its judges at all levels -- a move he claimed would root out corruption and impunity.

According to Cassez's account of her arrest, she was captured on a highway in southern Mexico City and later taken to a ranch where her arrest was simulated before the cameras of various media outlets.

At the time, the authorities reported that three kidnapping victims were freed in the operation: an 11-year-old boy, a woman, and a man.

Two decades later, Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez announced that Vallarta had been acquitted by a court on Thursday.

President Claudia Sheinbaum referred to the case during her usual morning press conference Friday as a "televised setup."