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Ex-DGSE Chief Appeals Extortion Conviction as Prosecutors Seek Four Years for Former Engineer

Both cases test how French courts handle classified evidence.

Overview

  • Bernard Bajolet appealed on January 15 after being sentenced on January 8 to a one-year suspended term for complicity in an attempted extortion and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
  • The conviction stems from a 2016 Roissy stop in which a businessman was pressed to repay €15 million, with the court deeming the methods shocking and unlikely to have been carried out autonomously.
  • In a separate case, prosecutors asked for four years in prison, a €10,000 fine, and a public-sector work ban for a former DGSE engineer accused of extracting protected data for a future German employer.
  • Investigators say roughly 16 GB of material were found at the engineer’s home and online storage, including files marked secret or confidentiel-défense, with the DGSE rating the damage at the maximum level.
  • Prosecutors and the court acknowledged proof limits because the files are classified, the defendant denies any transmission, and a verdict is scheduled for February 23.