Northern Ireland: in brief (3)
01 March 1994
France: phone-tapping inquiry: the inquiry into the phone- tapping cell involved in the "Irish Three" case and the bugging of journalists and political figures has taken another twist (see Statewatch, vol 3 no 3 & vol 4 no 1). Two of the men involved former gendarme Colonel Christian Prouteau (then head of the Elyse security cell) and Gilles Mnage, then head of President Mitterand's private office, have refused to answer the questions of the investigating judge, Jean-Paul Valat now he is seeking yet again to question them. The scandal has also spread from the President's office to the Prime Minister's. One of the phone-tap victims Le Monde journalist Edwy Plenel includes information in a new book which shows that codes on the transcripts of intercepted phone conversations involve the Inter-Ministry Communications Group (GIC) which authorises phone-taps and is responsible to the Prime Minister. The codes also show that the phone lines used belong to the DGSE (overseas intelligence service) which is theoretically accountable to the Defence Minister.
European 25.3.94.