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Ivory Coast - Ex-French Soldiers Admit Killing Gang Leader Mahe
http://www.africaeagle.com/2012/12/ivory-coast-ex-french-soldiers-admit.html
Four ex-French peacekeepers have admitted their role in the killing of a suspected gang leader in Ivory Coast in 2005, but say they acted under orders.
Prosecutors have asked a Paris court to jail Col Eric Burgaud and his three co-defendants for suffocating Firmin Mahe to death with a plastic bag.
France sent a 4,000-strong force to its former colony after it descended into a now-ended civil war in 2002.
Force commander Gen Henri Poncet was sacked following Mr Mahe's death. He is not on trial, and denies ordering Col Burgaud to kill Mr Mahe.
Mr Mahe, whom the French accused of being a murderer and a rapist, was arrested near the western town of Bangolo in May 2005.
He was then suffocated with a plastic bag in the back of a military vehicle.
His family has always insisted that he was innocent, and has been campaigning for the former peacekeepers to stand trial for his murder.
France sent a 4,000-strong force to its former colony after it descended into a now-ended civil war in 2002.
Force commander Gen Henri Poncet was sacked following Mr Mahe's death. He is not on trial, and denies ordering Col Burgaud to kill Mr Mahe.
Mr Mahe, whom the French accused of being a murderer and a rapist, was arrested near the western town of Bangolo in May 2005.
He was then suffocated with a plastic bag in the back of a military vehicle.
His family has always insisted that he was innocent, and has been campaigning for the former peacekeepers to stand trial for his murder.
