Educated at French schools in Saigon and in Paris, the Nazi-controlled Vichygovernment in France crowned Sihanouk king of Cambodia in 1941, bypassing his father in the hope that the 18-year-old could easily be manipulated.
The French railways, who are appealing against the June verdict, argue they had no choice during the war but to do as they were ordered by the Vichygovernment in collaboration with the German occupying army.