WITNESSES CLASH IN BEN BARKA CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100350029-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: September 29, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

11?ti xvz~~ :ia~vitra
SEP .2 9 1966
CP' ,Ij,ed For Release 2001/07/26: CIA-RDP7
WITNESSES CLASH
IN BE BARKA CASE
Lying Charges. Exchanged
Defense in Surprise
By JOIN L. HISS
Special to The New York Times
ep . 25 ' ive 3our-
alists, a Gaullist Deputy and
lemon merchant stood facing
ne another in the Ben Barka
rial today. Taking turns at
he witness rail in a sort of
grim ballet, 'the. newsmen said
he Deputy and the merchant
lied, and the Deputy and the
merchant hurled the lie back.
It was the climax of a bewild-
ering series 'of smaller confront-
ations, like a scene in a play
where characters talk at cross
purposes to no avail. But here
careers, liberty and possibly
even lives are at stake.
At issue also were allegations
that Roger ;Frey, Minister of
the ' Interior,.. and Jean Caille,
an official of the Paris police,
had covered up important in-
formation on the kidnapping
of Mehdi Ben Barka, the Moroc-
can opposition leader, last Oct.
29. Five men are on trial for
that crime.
The confrontations arose from
a defense challenge`of the testi-
unouy of the gangster Georges
Figon who apparently commit-
CPYRGHT
FOIAb3b
bother Figon had not in fact ling Gen, Mohammed Oufkir,lpresiden tot the opposition Istiq
t ld Mr. Kahn at 3 P.M. on
et. 29-that is, less than three
urs after the kidnapping-
t at Mr. Bon Barka was dead,
Ike others who talked with
igon, Mr. Kahn had reported
t at Mr. Ben Barka was alive
least two days later.
Mr. Kahn's negative reply was
I st in a hubbub, for the ques-
t on implied that Mr. Ben Barka
Minister of Interior.
This was one of 33 questions
along similar lines presented,
as French law permits, by law-
yers for the Ben Barks, family
to be put in writing to Pre-
mier Georges Pompidou and
Mr. Frey. The court took the
questions under study. It had
refused to summon the Min-
isters for direct examination.
In passing, Mr. Kahn offered
what purported to be new light
on the character of General
Oufklr, who, according to the
hearsay account by Figon, cut
Mr. Ben Barka with a dagger.
The newsman aid he had in-
terviewed a number of persons
in Morocco who said they had
been 'tortured by the Min-
ister's own hand.
The missing, Including Gen-
eral Oufkir, are to be tried in
he conceded that observers be-
lieved French-Moroccan rela-
tions 'might enter an "acute
crisis" because of the trial in
Paris, where the Interior Min-
ister General Oufkir, is charged,
in the kidnapping of the Moroc-;
can leftist leader Mehdi Ben:
Barka.
He denied French newspaper':
reports saying that the Istiglal:
party believed the Ben Barka
affair should be settled between
General Oufkir and King Hassan'
II on the one hand and between
the King and President deGaulle
on the otheri.,,r..,...:. -y .
as murdered-obstensibly by
r at the behest of Moroccan
ghtists-before he arrived at
e villa of Antoine Lopez, the
ganizer of the kidnapping,
who is Mr. Tixier-Vignancour's
icnt. If the death were con
rmed, the charge would be
urder. .
Deputy Issues' Denial
Four newsmen testified about
terviews with Pierre Le-
archand, a . Gaullist Deputy
nd a lawyer-friend of Figon.
11 said Mr. Lemarchand had
onfirmed Figon's account of
he kidnapping as given to him
hree.days after the event. All
aid Mr. Lemarchand told them
hat Mr. Caille was present at
he meeting with Figon and
hat Interior Minister Frey had
sked the Deputy to keep this
act secret.
The . policeman has stead-
astly denied he was there, and
oday Mr. Lemarchand denied
e had ever said so. .
If Mr. Caillo was there, the
uestion arises why he 'did not
rrest' Figon. and the. gang,
ters and the Moroccan of-
absentia immediately after the'
present trial,. which is expected
to end in two weeks. . }
French .newspapers have
given considerable attention to
the damage that the conviction .
of General Ouflcir might do to
French interests in Morocco, but
the consensus is that the de
Gaulle Government will not
block the prosecution. , .
Warning to French
RABAT, Morocco, Sept, 28-a
French interests in - Morocco
would be liquidated in the event
of a complete break in relations
ted suicide last Jan. 17. In'ef-
fect, the defense was cross-ex-
'amining- the dead man through
,the newsmen who said.they had
interviewed him.
2 L'Fxpress Bien Testify.
Jean-Francois Kahn and Jac-~
ques Derogy of the news week=i,
.ly L'Fxpress had recounted al
midnight meeting with Figon;
',a fugitive, near..the Are del
Triomphe.,
The newsmen said they had
'reached the rendezvous, with
two changes of cars, under the
guidance of one Joseph Zurita,
whom they described as a gang-
ister.
In a surprise move, Mr. urita
'was produced by Jean-Louis
Tixier-Vignancour, a flamboy-
ant defense lawyer who .is also
a political standard-bearer of
the extreme right. Mr. Zurita
said -he was a simple lemon
'merchant and had never laid
eyes on Figon or'the newsmen.
When they retold-their stories,
he cried, "liars!"
Switching course,'- Mr. Tixier-
Vignancour; demanded to know
Approved For Release 2001/07/26; CIA-RDP75-00149R0001,003,50029-5