By RFIPalled on 23-05-2019Modified on 23-05-2019 at 16:35

This is undoubtedly the end of a long judicial process for three former French ministers: Michele Alliot-Marie, Dominique de Villepin and Michel Barnier. All three were suspected of having allowed in November 2004 the release of mercenaries accused of bombing the French camp of Bouaké in Côte d'Ivoire. A bombing that caused the death of nine French soldiers and one American civilian. But the complaints commission of the Court of Justice of the Republic has decided, in his eyes, there is no need to continue.

For this commission, the facts of obstruction of the manifestation of the truth , non-denunciation of crime and concealment of criminals are not constituted. The inaction of the ministers is not enough, she believes, for example, to characterize the offense of concealment. There will be no prosecutions or investigations against the three ministers.

This decision closes this long judicial chapter because it is not subject to appeal. An announcement that caused this morning the black anger of Jean Balan, the lawyer of several families of victims of the bombing.

" It's pure blah, I tell you, pure blah. Because all these elements exist. Those three, they sabotaged the investigation from the beginning. And when I say sabotage the investigation, it is not me who says it, it is even the magistrate who says it with other words after 14 years of investigation. Why did they do that? Because Gbagbo is not the Ivorian at the origin of the bombing. That's totally established in the investigation. But who is behind the bombing then? They protect who? Themselves? A commission of inquiry could have determined it. That's why they do not want this investigation to progress because it would lead to a state scandal, the largest of the Fifth Republic, "says Balan.

And he has long been convinced: Michel Alliot-Marie, Dominique de Villepin and Michel Barnier have done everything to release these mercenaries. The latter were accused of bombing the French camp at Bouaké on November 6, 2004. A bombing that caused the death of nine French soldiers and one American civilian. Thirty-eight soldiers were also wounded in the operation.

The investigating judge in charge of the case had pointed out the role of the three ministers in the malfunctions that allowed these releases. She herself had asked for the referral to the Court of Justice of the Republic, the RGC, which therefore decided not to prosecute them.

    On the same subject

    Bombing of Bouaké in Ivory Coast: three pilots returned to the assizes

    Ivory Coast: Dominique de Villepin annoys questions on the Bouaké affair

    Bouaké: the role of Villepin pointed by a new testimony

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