Editing François Mitterrand (section)

==Controversies==

===Medical secrecy===
Following his death, a controversy erupted when his former physician, Claude Gubler, wrote a book called ''Le Grand Secret'' ("The Grand Secret") explaining that François Mitterrand had false health reports published since November 1981, hiding his cancer. François Mitterrand's family then prosecuted Gubler and his publisher for violating [[Confidentiality#Medical confidentiality|medical confidentiality]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Urba===
The Urba consultancy was established in 1971 by the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] to advise Socialist-led [[Communes of France|communes]] on infrastructure projects and public works. The [[Urba affair]] became public in 1989 when two police officers investigating the [[Marseille]] regional office of Urba discovered detailed minutes of the organisation's contracts, which showed a division of proceeds between the party and elected officials. Although the minutes proved a direct link between Urba and corrupt payments to politicians, an edict from the office of François Mitterrand (even though he himself was listed as a recipient) prevented further investigation. The François Mitterrand election campaign of 1988 was directed by [[Henri Nallet]], who then became [[Minister of Justice (France)|Justice Minister]] and therefore in charge of the investigation at the national level. In 1990 François Mitterrand declared an amnesty for those under investigation, thus ending the affair. Socialist Party treasurer [[Henri Emmanuelli]] was tried in 1997 for corruption offences, for which he received a two-year suspended sentence.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Wiretaps===
From 1982 to 1986, François Mitterrand established an "anti-terror cell" installed as a service of the President of the Republic. This was an unusual set-up since such law enforcement missions against terrorism are normally left to the [[French National Police|National Police]] and [[French Gendarmerie|''Gendarmerie'']], run under the cabinet and the Prime Minister, and under the supervision of the judiciary. The cell was largely staffed by members of these services, but it bypassed the normal line of command and safeguards. Three thousand conversations concerning 150 people (7 for reasons judged to be contestable by the ensuing court process) were recorded between January 1983 and March 1986 by this anti-terrorist cell at the Elysée Palace. In one of its first actions, the cell was involved in the "[[Irish of Vincennes]]" affair, in which it appeared that members of the cell had planted weapons and explosives in the Vincennes apartment of three Irish nationals who were arrested on terrorism charges. Most markedly, it appears that the cell, under illegal presidential orders, obtained [[wiretap]]s on journalists, politicians and other personalities who may have been an impediment to François Mitterrand's personal life. The illegal wiretapping was revealed in 1993 by ''[[Libération]]''; the case against members of the cell went to trial in November 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-387334,0.html |title=(Subscription) |work=Le Monde |location=France |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050324020235/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-387334,0.html |archive-date=24 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netscape.qc.ca/article/?cat=Monde&article=M111351AU&ch=a|title=Le procès des "écoutes de l'Elysée" doit commencer lundi à Paris|last=Von Derschau|first=Verena|publisher=La Presse Canadienne|access-date=5 December 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928083952/http://www.netscape.qc.ca/article/?cat=Monde&article=M111351AU&ch=a|archive-date=28 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It took 20 years for the ''affaire'' to come before the courts because the instructing judge [[Jean-Paul Vallat]] was at first thwarted by the ''affaire'' being classed a defence secret, but in December 1999 the ''[[Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale]]'' declassified part of the files concerned. The judge finished his investigation in 2000, but it still took another four years before coming on 15 November 2004 before the 16th chamber of the ''[[Tribunal correctionnel (France)|Tribunal correctionnel]] de Paris''. Twelve people were charged with "atteinte à la vie privée" (breach of privacy) and one with selling computer files. Seven were given suspended sentences and fines and 4 were found not guilty.

The affair finally ended before the ''Tribunal correctionnel de Paris'' with the court's judgement on 9 November 2005. Seven members of the President's anti-terrorist unit were convicted and Mitterrand was designated as the "inspirator and essentially the controller of the operation."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.news.fr/actualite/societe/0,3800002050,39369829,00.htm |title=La police française déploie ses grandes oreilles, 30 mai 2007 |publisher=News.fr |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-date=4 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080304211549/http://www.news.fr/actualite/societe/0,3800002050,39369829,00.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The court's judgement revealed that Mitterrand was motivated by keeping elements of his private life secret from the general public, such as the existence of his illegitimate daughter [[Mazarine Pingeot]] (which the writer [[Jean-Edern Hallier]], was threatening to reveal), his cancer which had been diagnosed in 1981, and the elements of his past in the Vichy Régime which were not already public knowledge. The court judged that certain people were tapped for "obscure" reasons, such as [[Carole Bouquet]]'s companion, a lawyer with family in the Middle East, [[Edwy Plenel]], a journalist for ''Le Monde'' who covered the ''Rainbow Warrior'' story and the Vincennes Three affair, and the lawyer Antoine Comte. The court declared "Les faits avaient été commis sur ordre soit du président de la République, soit des ministres de la Défense successifs qui ont mis à la disposition de ([[Christian Prouteau]]) tous les moyens de l'État afin de les exécuter" (translation: these actions were committed following orders from the French President or his various Defence Ministers who gave [[Christian Prouteau]] full access to the state machinery so he could execute the orders) The court stated that François Mitterrand was the principal instigator of the wire taps (l'inspirateur et le décideur de l'essentiel) and that he had ordered some of the taps and turned a blind eye to others and that none of the 3000 wiretaps carried out by the cell were legally obtained.<ref>''Les oreilles du Président'' de [[Jean-Marie Pontaut]] et [[Jérome Dupuis]], [[Fayard]], 1996. ''Les mots volés'' de [[Edwy Plenel]], Stock, 1997. ''Le Journaliste et le Président'' de [[Edwy Plenel]], 2006.</ref>

On 13 March 2007 the [[Court of Appeal in Paris]] awarded a symbolic €1<ref>{{Cite news|date=2007-03-13|title=Ecoutes de l'Elysée : Carole Bouquet et Jean-Michel Beau obtiennent réparation en appel|language=fr|work=Le Monde.fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2007/03/13/ecoutes-de-l-elysee-carole-bouquet-et-jean-michel-beau-indemnises-en-appel_882658_3224.html|access-date=2021-08-06|archive-date=6 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806084102/https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2007/03/13/ecoutes-de-l-elysee-carole-bouquet-et-jean-michel-beau-indemnises-en-appel_882658_3224.html|url-status=live}}</ref> in damages to the actress Carole Bouquet and €5000 to Lieutenant-Colonel [[Jean-Michel Beau]] for breach of privacy.<ref>[http://www.lexpress.fr/info/quotidien/actu.asp?id=9840 "Carole Bouquet victime des écoutes de l'Elysée"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930230431/http://www.lexpress.fr/info/quotidien/actu.asp?id=9840 |date=30 September 2007 }}, ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'', mardi 13 mars 2007, 18h19; [http://fr.news.yahoo.com/13032007/290/carole-bouquet-retablie-comme-victime-des-ecoutes-de-l-elysee.html "Carole Bouquet rétablie comme victime des écoutes de l'Elysée"] {{dead link|date=November 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, PARIS (Reuters), mardi 13 mars 2007, 17h03, cité par ''Yahoo! News''; ''[[Libération]]'', 17 mars 2007 cité dans [http://www.agoravox.fr/article.php3?id_article=20952 "Les écoutes de l’Élysée" : la cour d’appel de Paris à l’écoute&nbsp;... d’une nouvelle civilisation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126101419/http://www.agoravox.fr/article.php3?id_article=20952 |date=26 January 2009 }}, ''[[AgoraVox]], le média citoyen''</ref>

The case was taken to the [[European Court of Human Rights]], which gave judgement on 7 June 2007 that the rights of free expression of the journalists involved in the case were not respected.

In 2008 the French state was ordered by the courts to give Jean-Edern Hallier's family compensation.<ref>J.-B., [http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2008/07/25/01016-20080725ARTFIG00385-ecoutes-de-l-elysee-l-etat-devra-indemniser-la-famille-hallier-.php. Écoutes de l'Elysée : l'État devra indemniser la famille Hallier], ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 25 juillet 2008</ref>

===Rwanda===
{{Further|Role of France in the Rwandan genocide}}

Paris assisted [[Rwanda]]'s president [[Juvénal Habyarimana]], who was assassinated on 6 April 1994 while travelling in a [[Dassault]] [[Falcon 50]] given to him as a personal gift of François Mitterrand. Through the offices of the 'Cellule Africaine', a Presidential office headed by François Mitterrand's son, [[Jean-Christophe Mitterrand]], he provided the Hutu regime with financial and military support in the early 1990s. With French assistance, the Rwandan army grew from a force of 9,000 men in October 1990 to 28,000 in 1991. France also provided training staff, experts and massive quantities of weaponry and facilitated arms contracts with Egypt and South Africa. It also financed, armed and trained Habyrimana's Presidential Guard. French troops were deployed under [[Opération Turquoise]], a military operation carried out under a United Nations (UN) mandate. The operation is currently the object of political and historical debate.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===Bombing of the ''Rainbow Warrior''===
{{Main|Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior}}
{{Further|France–New Zealand relations}}
On 10 July 1985, the ''[[Rainbow Warrior (1955)|Rainbow Warrior]]'', a [[Greenpeace]] vessel, was in New Zealand preparing to protest against French nuclear testing in the South Pacific when two explosions sank the ship, resulting in the death of freelance photographer [[Fernando Pereira]]. The New Zealand government called the bombing the first terrorist attack in the country.<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-671207@51-671291,0.html Greenpeace, vingt ans après : le rapport secret de l'amiral Lacoste] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050712021238/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-671207@51-671291,0.html |date=12 July 2005 }}, ''[[Le Monde]]'', 10 July 2005 (Subscription) {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Painton |first=Frederick |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959987-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120183028/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959987-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 November 2011 |title=France "Criminal, Absurd . . . and Stupid" – 30&nbsp;Sep. 1985 |magazine=Time |date=30 September 1985 |access-date=3 June 2010}}</ref> In mid-1985, French Defence Minister [[Charles Hernu]] was forced to resign after New Zealand authorities arrested [[DGSE]] (French intelligence services) agents who confessed to planting the explosives and later pleaded guilty.

On the twentieth anniversary of the sinking, it was revealed that François Mitterrand had personally authorised the mission.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article542620.ece |title= François Mitterrand ordered bombing of Rainbow Warrior, spy chief says |date=11 July 2005 |work=The Times |access-date=11 March 2013 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706181503/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article542620.ece |archive-date=6 July 2008}}</ref> Admiral Pierre Lacoste, the former head of the DGSE, made a statement saying Pereira's death weighed heavily on his conscience. Television New Zealand (TVNZ) also sought access to the court video recording hearing where two French agents pleaded guilty, which they [[n:TVNZ wins court battle to screen Rainbow Warrior court footage|won a year later]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-09-26 |title=TVNZ wins right to screen Rainbow Warrior trial tapes |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tvnz-wins-right-to-screen-rainbow-warrior-trial-tapes/UARC5KY3TACDH6N4BNXG4KIAHQ/ |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref>