Three hours of a severe indictment from prosecutor Hervé Tetier concluded two tough weeks of hearing for Bernard Squarcini, 68, former boss of French domestic intelligence (2008-2012) converted to the private sector and tried with nine other defendants in Paris for a very long series of offenses notably concerning Corsican affairs.
The magistrate requested four years in prison “which may be accompanied by a suspended sentence”300,000 euros fine, confiscation of 460,000 euros of investments already seized during the investigation, five years ban from public service and any activity linked to intelligence, surveillance, economic intelligence and business consulting.
Provisional execution of the judgment (i.e. its immediate implementation even in the event of appeal) was also required for professional bans. The defense must plead this Friday, after which the judgment will be reserved until the beginning of next year. Bernard
Squarcini only recognizes some of the offenses and justifies himself by the purpose of his operations, which in his eyes would have been of public utility or justified by very real threats. The prosecution retained in particular as “very serious” a case where Squarcini informed a close friend in the case of the murder of the Corsican lawyer Antoine Sollacaro in 2012.
He also wants to see the former intelligence boss convicted for having illegally wiretapped, in 2011, another police officer who was at that time investigating the Parisian gaming circle Wagram, in the hands of the Corsican gang Brise de mer, where a close to Squarcini was employed. The prosecutor also accuses the defendant of having requested and obtained from an intelligence police officer, Christian Orsatelli, 66, multiple illegal consultations of confidential files.
Already convicted in 2014
“Bernard Squarcini obviously committed acts of particular gravity, since he communicated elements of information in an assassination file to a woman whose husband was in police custody, which is problematic. He also used the means of the State for particular purposes.remarked the prosecutor.
He stressed that the facts spanned a long period, from 2008 to 2016 and that Squarcini was a repeat offender, since he was already convicted in 2014 for illegally requesting detailed telephone bills from a journalist. The magistrate also insisted on the seriousness of the illicit surveillance of the Fakir association and its leader François Ruffin (now a member of the New Popular Front) between 2013 and 2016, carried out by Squarcini on behalf of the luxury group LVMH and billed 2.2 million euros.
The prosecution also requested the sentencing of the nine other defendants, ex-police officers, consultants and the magistrate Laurent Marcadier, 55, to suspended prison sentences, fines and bans on practicing. In particular, a one-year suspended prison sentence and a five-year ban on working in private intelligence and a two-year suspended sentence and a five-year ban on working against former police officer Charles Pellegrini were requested against Christian Orsatelli, 86 years old. Earlier, one of the lawyers for the civil parties, Me William Bourdon, had delivered a pleading in the form of a much more severe indictment against Squarcini, described as “mafia”.
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