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Viewing cable 08DJIBOUTI309, DJIBOUTI CONDEMNS LATEST BORREL CASE JUDGMENT

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08DJIBOUTI309 2008-04-01 13:19 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Djibouti
VZCZCXRO0083
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHDJ #0309 0921319
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011319Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9123
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA
UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 000309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E 
LONDON, ROME, PARIS FOR AFRICA-WATCHER 
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO KJUS DJ FR
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI CONDEMNS LATEST BORREL CASE JUDGMENT 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Djibouti has reacted with outrage to the 
latest judgment in the long-running series of legal battles 
between France and Djibouti over the 1995 death of French 
magistrate Bernard Borrel in Djibouti.  In a March 29 
communique, the GODJ strongly condemned the Versailles 
Correctional Tribunal's verdict against Djiboutian Security 
Service Chief Hassan Said and Chief Prosecutor Djama 
Souleiman.  On March 27, the Versailles court found both 
defendants guilty of illegally influencing the testimony of 
two witnesses in the Borrel case, Mohammed Saleh Alhoumekani 
and Ali Iftin.  Iftin and Alhoumekani had earlier testified 
that President Guelleh and other Djiboutian officials were 
responsible for Borrel's death.  Despite the refusal of the 
defendants and the principal witnesses to respond to 
subpoenas, the Court levied in absentia sentences of twelve 
months of prison for Hassan Said and eighteen months of 
prison for Djama Souleiman.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Post's translation of the French-language communique, 
which received prominent coverage in national state-run 
media, follows: 
 
BEGIN TEXT: 
 
The Republic of Djibouti is not surprised by the overtly 
racist decision of the Correctional Tribunal of Versailles, 
which on March 27 upheld arrest warrants and sentenced the 
Chief Prosecutor of Djibouti to 18 months of prison and the 
Chief of the National Security Service to 12 months of prison 
for an alleged offense of witness subornation. 
 
This verdict is nothing but the result of an investigation 
conducted since November 2002 in a climate of hatred towards 
Djiboutians by activist judges connected with Mrs. Borrel, 
herself a magistrate and a "partie civile."  These French 
magistrates therefore know well that they risk nothing in 
thus seriously violating the most elementary judicial rules, 
including for example the competencies of French justice. 
 
The Republic of Djibouti had already forcefully denounced the 
fact that the French government did not guarantee a fair and 
independent trial for these Djiboutian nationals. The 
magistrates who sentenced the Chief Prosecutor of Djibouti 
and the Chief of the National Security Service are all 
members of the union of magistrates, which is the "partie 
civile" in the Borrel affair being investigated in Paris; 
therefore the magistrates are both judges and concerned 
parties! 
 
It is now obvious that the French government, which like Mrs. 
Borrel chooses to hide the real reason for the death of 
Bernard Borrel, has once again chosen to keep a deafening 
silence about the serious malfunctioning of its judicial 
system, and has preferred to allow the condemnation of 
Djiboutian officials to escape its own responsibility. 
 
In fact, the French government has kept the cause of the 
death of Bernard Borrel--which is rooted in crimes of 
pedophilia committed against street children in Djibouti by 
French diplomats, civil servants, soldiers, and 
clergymen--sealed as a "Defense Secret" since October 1995. 
 
The French state has made itself an accomplice to these 
crimes of pedophilia not only by guaranteeing the impunity of 
the authors of these heinous crimes, but also by continuing 
to silence the rare French citizens who have dared to 
denounce the horror of this crime. 
 
The Republic of Djibouti will consider all the consequences 
of this action whereby the French government took the side of 
injustice and lies. 
 
END POST TRANSLATION 
 
3. (SBU) COMMENT:  The GODJ's outrage over this latest 
development is a further sign that the Borrel affair--now 
over twelve years old--continues to complicate the 
Franco-Djiboutian relationship, despite President Sarkozy 
inviting Djiboutian president Guelleh for a state visit to 
France in late 2007.  END COMMENT. 
 
WONG