Once of the world’s most-sought fugitive, the
political terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal’’ appeared in a court in Paris
on Monday, accused of a 1974 attack in the city.
The 67-year-old
Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, allegedly hurled a
grenade into a restaurant in the Saint-Germain district, killing two people and
injuring 34.
Addressing the court,
Ramirez described himself as a “professional revolutionary’’.
He denied the charges
against him and spoke of a “Zionist plot’’ while describing the plaintiffs,
represented by a victims’ association, as “vultures’’.
Ramirez masterminded
several high-profile attacks against Western targets during the Cold War,
including a deadly 1975 hostage-taking at the Organisation of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna.
The pro-Palestinian
guerrilla is already serving two life sentences for his part in a string of
bomb attacks that killed 11 people in 1982-83 and for the killing of two French
police agents and a Lebanese informant in 1975.
He has been imprisoned
in France since his arrest in Sudan in 1994.
His latest trial, which
is expected to last three weeks, is proving problematic for the prosecution due
to the length of time that has passed since the 1974 attack.
Some of the witnesses
are not fit to give testimony or are no longer alive.
Born in Caracas in 1949
to a wealthy Marxist lawyer, Ramirez studied in Moscow and then moved to
Lebanon, where he fell in with the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine
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