Editing François Mitterrand (section)

===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>