Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05PARIS3989
2005-06-08 16:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

FRENCH JUDICIARY TO INVESTIGATE GUANTANAMO

Tags:  PREL PGOV FR PTER KJUS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003989 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE, S/CT, L

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV FR PTER KJUS
SUBJECT: FRENCH JUDICIARY TO INVESTIGATE GUANTANAMO
IMPRISONMENT OF 2 EX-DETAINEES


Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR JOSIAH ROSENBLATT, FOR REAS
ONS 1.4 B/D

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 003989

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE, S/CT, L

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV FR PTER KJUS
SUBJECT: FRENCH JUDICIARY TO INVESTIGATE GUANTANAMO
IMPRISONMENT OF 2 EX-DETAINEES


Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR JOSIAH ROSENBLATT, FOR REAS
ONS 1.4 B/D


1. (C) Summary: A Paris appeals court recently ordered two
investigating judges, Sophie Clement and Nathalie Frydman, to
investigate charges that ex-Guantanamo detainees Nizar Sassi
and Mourad Benchellali (currently in pretrial detention in
France) were "illegally arrested and arbitrarily detained" in
the aftermath of their capture in Afghanistan. Under French
law, investigative judges have significant maneuvering room
in the conduct of their investigations. A French
counter-terrorism investigating judge queried about this
investigation said he believed Clement and Frydman were not
favorably disposed to the U.S. and that he expected they
would be aggressive in the pursuit of their investigation.
End summary.


2. (U) This case began with a civil suit filed by the
families of Sassi and Benchellali while the two were being
held in Guantanamo. The families filed their civil suit in
Lyon charging that the two men were illegally arrested by the
U.S. and were being arbitrarily detained in Guantanamo. An
appeals court ruled on May 20, 2003, that the civil suit was
without merit and ordered it denied without even a
preliminary investigation. In January 2005, the Cour de
Cassation, France's highest court for criminal and civil
matters, overruled the Lyon appeals court and ordered that a
preliminary investigation be conducted. In response, a Paris
appeals court in May appointed Clement and Frydman to conduct
the investigation. Since their July 2004 return to French
custody, Sassi and Benchellali have been formally charged
with terrorism conspiracy, (which brings with it a maximum
imprisonment of ten years) and are in detention pending trial.


3. (C) On June 7, poloff spoke with anti-terrorism
investigating judge Jean-Francois Ricard (strictly protect)
about this case and his analysis of next steps. Ricard said
the case had the potential to be a problem. As he noted in
previous conversations, the decision by the Lyon appeals
court to reject the civil suit did not conform with French
law, and the Cour de Cassation was right to overturn it. In
French law, civil and criminal suits must be investigated by
investigating judges, barring only certain exceptional
circumstances. In overturning the Lyon court's decision, the
Cour de Cassation directly and publicly ordered an
investigation, the high profile of which has given the civil
suit more credibility, said Ricard. If the Lyon court had
simply approved a preliminary investigation of the civil
suit, Ricard speculated that the matter would have been
perfunctorily investigated and later, dropped.


4. (C) Ricard said that with the direct intervention of the
Cour de Cassation and the naming of the two investigation
judges by a Paris appeals court, the families' civil suit has
the potential to be problematic for the U.S., though he said
he did not believe the suit would have any impact on the
current pretrial detentions of the ex-Guantanamo detainees.
Clement and Frydman, said Ricard, are "not among the (French
judges) most favorable to the U.S." Also, they have
reputations as being media savvy and ambitious. He expected
that they would use all the tools at their disposal, possibly
to include MLAT requests, to pursue their investigations of
the civil suit. In short, Ricard believed that the two
judges would pursue their investigations of the civil suit
"very far."
WOLFF