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Mercs go free as Judge denounces Chirac
COVERT attempts by President Chirac to exert influence over Africa were exposed by a French court yesterday, when it denounced his secret services for conniving with a band of mercenaries in a coup in the tiny Comoros Islands. In a damning ruling, the Paris Criminal Tribunal said that the French authorities had given at least tacit approval to the 1995 coup led by Bob Denard, the best-known French soldier of fortune. The judgment came as Denard, now 77, and 26 other defendants were found guilty of criminal association in connection with a military operation to oust Said Mohamed Djohar, the Comoros President, 11 years ago. The court refused a prosecution demand to jail the plotters and instead handed out suspended sentences after hearing them claim that they were acting with the backing of M Chiracs Government.
It is clear that the French secret services knew of the plan for a coup détat conceived by Robert Denard, both its preparation and execution, the court said. It is also evident that at the very least they did nothing to hinder it and that they therefore allowed it to reach its conclusion. As a consequence, that means political leaders must also have wanted it. Denard led 30 mercenaries who landed on the Indian Ocean islands in rubber dinghies on September 27, 1995, and captured M Djohar in his palace. A week later M Chirac sent a 600-man force that put down the putsch but did not restore M Djohar to power. Denard has Alzheimers disease and attended only the first day of the three-week trial in February. But in testimony read to the court, he said that he never for one moment believed he was acting against the interests of my country quite the contrary.Maître Elie Hatem, Denards lawyer, said that the coup codenamed Eskazi was controlled by French politicians. It was a pretext for France to intervene and get rid of a president. Denard, one of Frances most colourful figures, spent 30 years in Africas battlefields, where he was often suspected of acting on behalf of the French authorities. He was involved in a total of four coups or attempted coups in Comoros Islands after they won independence from France in 1975. In that year he helped to overthrow Ahmed Abdallah, the countrys first president, before restoring him to power in 1978. In 1989 M Abdallah was assassinated in suspicious circumstances. Denard was tried for the murder in France ten years later but acquitted for lack of evidence. Denard, who was born Gilbert Bourgeaud, married seven times and fathered eight children. Among the 26 others who were convicted yesterday were his long-serving lieutenants, Jean-Paul Guerrier, 55, also known as Captain Slam, and Dominique Malcrino, 54, or Commandant Marques. Four were exempted from any sentence and the rest given suspended jail terms of up to four years. Maître Said Larifou, the lawyer representing M Djohars family, said that the Comoran people would feel insulted by the failure to imprison any of the defendants. In the 30 years since independence the Comoros islands have endured 19 coups or attempted coups. Colonel Bob Denard, a French mercenary whose real name is Gilbert Bourgeaud, was behind four of the most significant:
Posted by: Steve 2006-06-21 |
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