French-Pakistan Attack: Victims’ families sue judge

Sarkozy dismisses the claims as a "fairytale."

PARIS: Relatives of Frenchmen killed in a 2002 bombing in Pakistan are suing a judge who probed the case, their lawyer, Oliver Morice, said on Wednesday, alleging that it was falsely framed as a suicide attack.

They lodged a complaint alleging that the judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, had ignored an autopsy on the suspected bomber which, they say, casts a doubt on claims that he drove a vehicle packed with explosives, said Morice. The ongoing probe, now under the supervision of a different judge, centres on allegations that the attack was revenge for the cancellation of kickbacks promised to the officials involved in the sale of French submarines to Pakistan. The 2002 bombing in Karachi killed 11 French engineers and at least three Pakistanis. The families have called for President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was the budget minister at the time, to be questioned. Sarkozy has dismissed the claims as a “fairytale.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.