Lawyer spied on terrorist
NZPA-Reuter Paris The lawyer for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in the murders of two diplomats, said yesterday he has asked the Minister of Justice to void the verdict after the disclosure that Abdallah’s former lawyer was also a spy. Mr Jacques Verges, in a letter to the Minister, Albin Chaiandon, said it was the first time in French history that “the State sends to an accused a secret service agent disguised as a lawyer to betray the defence.”
He asked Mr Chaiandon to issue a formal order to the Paris court to annul the verdict, which was issued on February 28. Mr Verges said he sent the letter on Friday and that he had not received a response. Mr Jean-Paul Mazurier, who served as Abdallah’s lawyer for two years, defending him in a trial last year in Lyon, revealed on Friday that he also worked for the French secret service and informed on his client.
Abdallah was given a four-year prison term in 1986 for criminal association and possession of arms, explosives and false documents.
Mr Verges defended Abdallah in last month’s trial for complicity in the 1982 murders of a United States and an Israeli diplomat, and in the attempted murder of another American diplomat. He was found guilty on three counts and sentenced to life in prison. Abdallah is considered a leader of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, which claimed responsibility for the three attacks. Appearing on French television on Friday, Mr Mazurier confirmed reports that he worked for both Abdallah and the French secret service, becoming an agent in August, 1984. A book to be published this week, “Black Agent, a Mole in the Abdallah Affair,’’ written by Laurent Gaily with Mr Mazurier’s collaboration, describes in detail Mr Mazurier’s double role as lawyeragent and the path that took him there. ——k-
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Press, 10 March 1987, Page 6
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313Lawyer spied on terrorist Press, 10 March 1987, Page 6
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