France issues warrants on Djibouti death probe

[General Duke]

France issues warrants on Djibouti death probe

 

Monday, October 02, 2006

 

PARIS (Reuters) - French authorities have issued arrest warrants against the Djibouti state prosecutor and the head of the country's secret services in connection with the 1995 death of a French judge, his wife's lawyer said on Sunday.

 

The cause of judge Bernard Borrel's death has remained unsolved since his burned corpse was discovered in Djibouti , in the Horn of Africa, in 1995.

 

Djibouti authorities initially said Borrel, who had been working as a consultant to the country's Justice Ministry, had committed suicide, but his widow has accused high-ranking local officials of involvement in the murder of her husband.

 

French investigators have tried to obtain information from Djibouti officials and last year even summoned the country's president to testify in the case, although he refused to do so.

 

Olivier Morice, who represents the wife of judge Bernard Borrel said the appeal court in Versailles had issued the new warrants on Wednesday. "This is a considerable advance in the case of the murder of Bernard Borrel," he said.

 

The strategically important former French colony hosts large numbers of French troops as well as U.S. forces hunting militants such as those who blew up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people.

 

Source: Reuters, Oct 2, 2006