Last week’s news of the arrest of Paul Barril, former French intelligence officer and dirty cop who participated in rigging the trial against Croatian General Ante Gotovina in the 1980s has brought new optimism to Gotovina’s defence team. The news has also provided corroboration for the letter Gotovina’s attorneys submitted to the Hague Tribunal on 28 August 2007.

Gotovina’s attorneys believe that following Barril’s arrest, it will be easier to convince the Hague Tribunal trial chamber to allow Gotovina to be tried as a free man, and to explain why Gotovina was on the run.

It is their firm belief that Barril’s arrest is key in the argument that Gotovina had to flee, as he believed the Hague indictment against him was just another set up without any evidence, as this had already happened to him in France, as orchestrated by Barril. Gotovina’s defence team described this fact in detail in their letter, which was virtually unobserved by the Croatian public.

Luka Misetic, member of the Gotovina defence team, made this comment for Nacional on Barril’s arrest. “The Barril case is very important for us, as we need to explain to the Tribunal why Gotovina failed to appear before the court. The reason lies in his past, as he already experienced how easy it is to rig a trial. We believe the prosecution will never again use the ‘Gotovina dossier’, as it will come back to them like a boomerang. Furthermore, when they through the ‘French dossier’ into the mix, France rejected the prosecution’s request to send someone from France to testify as to the authenticity of the claims in those documents. Without a French witness, the prosecution cannot use those documents”. Following the newest news of Barril’s arrest, Gotovina’s attorneys have hired French lawyers to take legal measures before the French institutions to throw out all convictions against Gotovina in that country.

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Only days ago, French authorities released that Barill had been arrested with another 12 people. They have been charged with corruption, illegal sale of weapons, and the planning and preparation of several murders throughout France. The charges also likely relation to illegal activities in the early 1980s. At that time, Barril was one of the chief operatives in the police “anti-terrorist unit” that was connected to then French President Francois Mitterrand.

It was Barill who was the main protagonist in the letter that Gotovina’s attorneys filed with the Hague Trial Chamber in summer 2007, aimed at opening a chance for Gotovina to be released from custody for the remainder of the trial.

Barril was included in the letter because, during 2003, Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had decided to use Gotovina’s French file to publicly portray him as a small-time criminal and kidnapper. This was all part of the strategy to reduce Gotovina’s public support. This strategy included blemishing his reputation. Del Pont hoped that Gotovina’s alleged protectors in Croatia would give up his hiding spot. Later, after his arrest, the prosecution continued to push his French file as evidence that he should not be released from custody. Paul Barril deserves the most “credit” for Gotovina’s French file.

Last summer, on 28 August, Gotovina’s attorney’s provided a detailed explanation of why this evidence should be thrown out. In the letter to the Trial Chamber, they explained how that Paul Barril was a key person in the case, as he had set up Gotovina. The letter reads, “On 15 November 2004, twelve former members of the GIGN (French anti-terrorist unit), loyal to former French President Francois Mitterrand, were tried in France on charges that they had violated the rules of their service, including illegal wiretapping and forging of evidence in criminal proceedings. Today, that case is known as the ‘French Watergate’.”

The letter also states what the France Presse reported on the case on 15 November 2004. “An unbelievable 22 years after the establishment of a secret interrogation room in the Elysee Palace, twelve men, including current Renault director Louis Schweitzer, have been indicted of violations of privacy. They face the possible maximum penalty for that crime: one year imprisonment and fines up to 45 thousand euro. Initially established in 1982 as a special anti-terrorist unit answering to the president, the team worked to wiretap journalists, attorneys and businessmen in order to uncover information to eliminate possible scandals.”

For years, Barril’s group was informally attributed to working as Mitterrand’s personal unit, doing his dirty business outside of the system, including taking revenge on and destroying political opponents. Protecting Mitterrand’s “secret family”, i.e. his mistress and illegitimate daughter. Barill was among those who compiled the list of those to be assassinated, and who rigged trials in order to eliminate Mitterrand’s enemies via judicial organs.

At that time, Gotovina was loyal to the other side of the French political spectrum. Even before Mitterrand came into power, he was informally on the side of then French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in the early 1980s. At that time, Ante Gotovina had left the Foreign Legion while a dirty underground pre-election war was ongoing between right-wing President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and the Socialists, led by future President François Mitterrand. While in the Foreign Legion, Gotovina was very close to the most popular commander and the best known unit of the French Army, Colonel Philippe Erulin, who was close to the right-wing run by Giscard.

At that time, Gotovina had taken employment in the security company owned by Dominique Erulin, brother of his commander. This security company was thought to be a front behind which Giscard’s police group hid, and which Phillip Erulin controlled through his brother Dominique, allegedly to serve the French president in controlling political opponents. This company had various contracts with the state. These contracts were a formal source of income, while the company in fact did work for Giscard on the border of, and outside the law.

Members of this company, perhaps on direct orders by Giscard’s government and party, attempted to find out how Mitterrand was collecting money for his campaign. They wanted to catch him in illegal and compromising actions. They learned that Mitterrand had received a large sum of money from a jeweller, so they decided to investigate. They received information that the jewellery shop was just a front for a massive fortune earned from the illegal trade of arms with Iraq and Iran, and that this was the source of Mitterrand’s financing.

Giscard’s investigation was carried out by Dominique Erulin, who had established his “security” company for actions such as these. Gotovina was one of his most trusted men. The unit was instructed to kidnap the jeweller and force him to admit that he was financing Mitterrand with arms trade money. Though this action was politically motivated, in 1981, Mitterrand won the presidential elections.

After Mitterrand’s victory, Gotovina left France for a while. As soon as he returned, he was taken in by the secret service and warned to flee from France, as this was no longer a favourable place for friends and followers of Erulin. Gotovina then joined a non-governmental French agency and worked as a military instructor in Paraguay while waiting for better times. In 1990, he returned to France, and then moved onto Croatia when the conflict started there.

However, in 1986, while Gotovina was in Paraguay, a trial was launched against him, Erulin and two other soldiers for the kidnapping of the jeweller. Gotovina was falsely accused and convicted, and later it was revealed that none other than Paul Barril played the key role in this set up. The trial was rigger, and Mitterrand was convinced that the right-wing intended to assassinate him. Based on these rigged trials, Gotovina was sentenced to a total of 9.5 years in prison for various charges. He did not spend a single day in prison, nor did the French authorities ever issue a warrant for his arrest. Furthermore, in 2001, they issued him a new passport.

In their letter, Gotovina’s attorneys stated that Barril was one of twelve men already tried by France. “Barril is already notorious in France as, in 1993, Le Monde wrote that in 1982, the GIGN group and Barril had framed three Irish nations as “super terrorists” who were preparing a terrorist attack against France. This case was known as the “Irish from Vincennes”. In 1993, Barril sued Le Monde for libel and in 1995, the French Supreme Court ruled in favour of Le Monde with the explanation that ‘from start to finish, the operation was framed by Captain Barril, who manipulated the political and judicial authorities and public opinion, and who caused… the arrest of three innocent men’. During the 1990s, Barril was involved in even more serious crimes. Human Rights Watch informed the authorities that he was possible involved in aiding and abetting genocide in Ruanda. The American State Department also claims that, in 2003, Barril was a mercenary who used children as soldiers in order to stifle uprisings within the Central African Republic.”

Gotovina’s attorneys tried to use several of Barril’s statements from his 2005 interview with Globus to their client’s benefit. In that interview, he virtually admitted that he and the GIGN were obsessed with Gotovina, particularly after the commando style breaking into the Foix military base in 1981 when weapons were stolen. The legionnaires were immediately suspected of stealing the weapons, allegedly in a conspiracy against Mitterrand. Though the real thieves were apprehended one year later, for many years to come, Gotovina was the main target of Mitterrand’s police group. At least, this is the claim made by Gotovina’s attorneys.

They also state that, in his book entitled “Mitterrand’s secret archives”, Barril admitted to the paranoia that ruled among those close to Mitterrand. It was this paranoia that led to the downfall of Gotovina, Erulin and other like-thinkers.
Though it would appear that Barril’s arrest could improve Gotovina’s odds in the eyes of the Hague trial chamber, due to the recent stupidities revolving around Mladen Markac’s unauthorized hunting trip, it is questionable as to whether all this will be enough to allow Gotovina to be released from custody.