Overview
- A Bobigny criminal court opened proceedings Thursday against former DGSE director Bernard Bajolet on charges of complicity in attempted extortion and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
- The case stems from a March 12, 2016 stop at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, where border police escorted Franco-Swiss businessman Alain Dumenil to a room for questioning.
- Two men in civilian clothes presented as DGSE personnel told Dumenil to repay €15 million to France and showed an album of photos of him and his family to signal surveillance, according to judicial accounts.
- The two individuals have never been identified after Bajolet declined to disclose their names, a detail cited in the courtroom narrative of events.
- Bajolet’s lawyer argues he only proposed the principle of an interview and did not organize the operation, calling the charges a legal “non-sense,” with the hearing set to run through Friday.