France’s ‘super-gendarme’

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 17

France’s ‘super-gendarme’

Not since President Giscard d’Estaing accepted a little gift of African diamonds has the French press, led by the satirical weekly “Le Canard Enchaine,” so bombarded the Elysee Palace with embarrassing revelations. The central figure in the latest scandal is Captain Paul Barril, a young “super-gendarme,” whose unconventional approach to the fight against terrorism has left a' trail of wreckage. The picture given to the French public is of a small force of James Bonds, protected by President Mitterrand, pursuing their own antiterrorist tactics unknown to the police assigned officially to the operation. Barril is the former commander of the G.1.G.N., a part of the national gendaimerie which comes under the Ministry of Defence. The 36-year-old captain has taken part, in the elite intervention force’s most spectacular coups to save lives in kidnappings, house sieges, and plane hijacks. Early this month the “Canard” reproduced a letter from Barril to a notorious fugitive, Jean-Marc Rouillan, wanted for his alleged part in the operations of the

From

ROBIN SMYTH,

in Paris

extreme left-wing terrorist group, Action Directe.

Written on Elysee Palace writing paper, the letter asked for a personal meeting: “I am empowered by the presidency to negotiate with you.”

In the end, Barril’s overtures failed to convince Rouillan to come out of hiding. After the “Canard” article, the Elysee Palace spokesman, Max Gallo, declared that Barril “does not belong, and has never belonged, to the Elysee staff.”

However, 24 hours later, the Elysee spokesman admitted Barril was sometimes called in to assist his immediate superior, Commandant Christian Prouteau, who heads a special anti-terrorist unit from the Elysee. It was possible Barill had gone beyond his brief on one or two occasions, the spokesman added.

Barril is now an extremely angry young man. “Convalescing” from a training injury in the Alps, he insisted, in a statement issued

by his lawyer, that he had acted on orders from his superiors. Barril became involved in a far more damaging venture when he met Alain Orsoni, a young member of the banned F.L.N.C., the Corsican nationalist underground, early this year. His efforts to persuade and, it is said, to bribe the nationalist guerrillas to suspend their armed struggle for Corsican selfdetermination had a tragic sequel a few months later when Alain Orsoni’s younger brother, Guy, disappeared. He was never seen again and, according to reports reaching his family and the police, he was tortured and murdered.

For the F.L.N.C., Guy Orsoni is a political martyr executed by secret agents conscripted by Corsican officials. Last month, the F.L.N.C. struck back. Pierre Jean Massimi, the local government administrator in north Corsica, was shot dead. He was the first Government official killed in Corsica since the independence struggle began.

The Elysee’s active interest in counter-terrorism dates back to the slaughter by terrorist gunmen of a lunchtime crowd in a Jewish restaurant in Rue des Rosiers, in Paris, in August 1982.

President Mitterrand felt France did not have the right machinery for anticipating and fighting terrorist outbreaks. The Socialist leaders were already suspicious of a police establishment which they considered right-wing. Mr Mitterrand brought Commandant Prouteau, commander of the G.1.G.N., on to the Elysee staff to oversee his personal security and study new anti-terrorist methods. He also appointed to his staff a Corsican, Joseph Franceshi, as Secretary of State for Public Security. The parallel police hierarchies soon began to undercut one another.

Many hardened old policemen in France were unhappy to learn that a Paris court had quashed a case against three suspected Irish terrorists.

The court, after hearing about the planting of evidence, ruled that the charges would have to be dropped. Copyright — London Observer Service.