Security court takes over blast probe

Press, 7 October 1980, Page 8

Security court takes over blast probe

NZPA-Reuter Paris France’s State Security Court has taken charge of the investigation into Friday’s bomb blast outside a Paris synagogue which killed four passers-by and has sparked a nationwide uproar. The Justice Minister (Mr Alain Peyrefitte) said yesterday that he had taken the decision to let the Security Court’s prosecutor handle the investigation because its powers, were wider than those of regular civil authorities.

The court, which includes both civilian and military judges, handles espionage cases and instances of, terrorism believed to be serious enough to destabilise : the French republic.

The court, whose investigative- branch can order suspects held incommunicado for up to six days, has long been criticised by the French Left-wing and civil-rights movements as being an antidemocratic institution. The transfer of the case to the court — created to fight the extreme Right-wing Secret Army Organisation (0.A.5.) in the early 1960 s — follows a storm of criticism against the authorities, who have been accused of not taking extreme Rightists seriously enough in the past. Left-wing parties and trade unions are planning a inarch through Paris today to express their anger at the Government and call for the stamping out of neo-Nazi groups. The Government’s dismay

and embarrassment was heightened by accusations at the week-end that the police were infiltrated by neo-Nazis and that suppression of evidence explained their lack of success ' against Right-wing extremists. Official sources said a crack-down on the Rightists would be top item for tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting under President Valery Giscard d’Estaing. Three extra companies of riot police were, meanwhile, rushed to Paris to reinforce police guards of Jewish institutions. A bomb shattered a car in the Latin Quarter on Sunday, seriously injuring its Dutch woman occupant. No further information was available.