From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Thu Jun 11 2009 - 17:12:05 EDT
Thursday, 11 June 2009
France acquits Djibouti officials
Friday, 29 May 2009 10:58 UK
A French court has overturned jail sentences handed out in absentia to
two Djibouti officials convicted of halting a probe into a French
judge's death.
The court also ordered the cancellation of international arrest warrants
for public prosecutor Djama Souleiman and the secret service chief,
Hassan Said.
Judge Bernard Borrel's corpse was found in 1995 in Djibouti and local
officials initially said he had killed himself.
But his widow said he was murdered on the orders of high-ranking
officials.
At the time of his death, Borrel was acting as a consultant to the
Djibouti justice ministry and reportedly investigating arms smuggling.
Mr Souleiman and Mr Said were both accused of having put pressure on key
witnesses in the Borrel case with the aim of discrediting testimony that
potentially linked Djibouti's President, Ismael Omar Guelleh, to the
death. He has denied any involvement.
Mohamed Saleh Alhoumekani, a former member of the Djiboutian
presidential guard, told a French court last year that he had heard five
men discuss the elimination of the "nosy judge" with Mr Guelleh, who was
head of the former president's private office at the time.
The court of appeal did not give a reason for Thursday's acquittal.
Correspondents say relations between France and its former colony have
been strained over the Borrel affair, especially since President Nicolas
Sarkozy promised to help his widow, Elisabeth, find the truth.
She maintains that Paris co-operated with efforts to obstruct the
inquiry because of fears of losing its major military base in Djibouti.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8073407.stm
Bernard Borrel (file)
<http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45839000/jpg/_45839934_morrelafp2
26b.jpg>
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