28 March 2012
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France: CIA
flight in Bourget airport : no judicial follow-up
The court has shelved a complaint by the FIDH and LDH concerning
an airplane that transited through Bourget airport.
The daily newspaper Le Monde revealed on Tuesday 12 September
that Bobigny court has decided to shelve the complaint lodged
on 21 December 2005 by the Fédération internationale
des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH) and the Ligue
française pour la defence des droits de l'homme et du
citoyen (LDH) concerning stopovers by airplanes suspected
of carrying prisoners for the CIA.
The complaint that was filed by these associations involved a Gulf Gulfstream airplane that arrived in Bourget airport on 20 July 2005 from Oslo " with three crew members and two passengers (an American and a Norwegian) ". The aircraft left the next day " for Bangor (United States) with only the crew members on board ".
"At the Hilton hotel "
In a letter dated 23 August and addressed to the lawyer Patrick Baudoin, the public prosecutor François Molins deems that it turns out that: "no element of the investigation that has been carried out currently allows to suppose that the Gulfstream airplane arriving from Oslo was carrying prisoners on behalf of the CIA. The entire crew went to rest at the Hilton hotel, leaving the aircraft in Bourget under the surveillance of the company Euralair".
However, according to Le Monde, this letter did not answer the complementary claim lodged by Mr. Patrick Baudoin on 11 April 2006, which concerned two further flights. According to gendarmerie officers, "these aircraft moved through Bourget airport on 11 occasions, seven of which were carried out after 11 September 2001".
The lawyer described the rejection of his complaint as " very disappointing ":
" The prosecutor's response concerning the flights in Bourget appears rather puzzling. Within the context of the fight against terrorism and the discourse concerning the protection of citizens, we are told that it is impossible to know the origin, destination and identity of the passengers on an airplane that transited through France on five occasions ".
Translation of an article that appeared in French in the Nouvel Observateur on 12 September 2006.
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