Kabul court jails French reporter for 18 years

Press, 22 October 1984, Page 6

Kabul court jails French reporter for 18 years

NZPA-Reuter Moscow A French journalist, Jacques Abouchar, had been sentenced to 18 years jail in Kabul at the week-end for illegally entering Afghanistan and co-operating with “bandits,” the Soviet news agency, Tass, reported. In a report from Kabul on Abouchar’s trial, Tass said that he had been travelling with Muslim guerrillas about 20km inside Afghan territory on September 17 when they were surprised by a border patrol. "The bandits (guerrillas) opened fire -and badly wounded three soldiers. As a result of an exchange of fire one motor vehicle was knocked out and caught fire. The second one succeeded in escaping,” Tass said. Abouchar’s film crew and their Afghan escorts fled but he was found hiding in a

ditch, according to the Tass report. It said that during his trial Abouchar had pleaded guilty to crossing the border illegally and “was forced to admit he had co-operated with counter-revolution-aries.”

Tass said the Court had emphasised that Abouchar was “planning to misinform public opinion about the situation in Afghanistan, to stage a noisy campaign in favour of the counter-revo-lution and thus cause damage to the national sovereignty and international prestige of ... Afghanistan.”

It reported that Abouchar had been carrying a letter, which instructed guerrilla groups to give him every assistance down to conducting combat operations for him.

Abouchar crossed into Afghanistan to make a film

about the conduct of the guerrilla war against the Soviet-backed Kabul administration. Tass said, that the wounding of three Government troops in his ambush had influenced the severity of the sentence handed down. The Court had noted that the action by Ms escorts against the soldiers constituted the criminal offence of “armed struggle against the republic.” The French Government said that it was shocked by the sentence' and was doing all it could to have Abouchar released immedi-

ately. “The French Government is deeply shocked by the conviction of Jacques Abouchar. It is doing everything possible through the appropriate channels to secure from the Kabul authorities his release and immediate return to

France,” the External Relations Ministry said. Jean Michel Baylet, Secretary of State for External Relations, said that it was unacceptable that journalists were not able to do their work.

“I hope we will have the means to ensure that Mr Abouchar does not have to serve this sentence,” he said..

A leader of France’s governing Socialist Party called the sentence scandalous. Jacques Huntziger, national secretary for international affairs, said: “It is scandalous because a harsh sentence has been imposed on a journalist who was carrying out his duty and exercising his right: to information. '2

“It is shocking because a sentence of 18 years is totally out of proportion to the charge of entering a country illegally.”