The aging, twice-married but still romantically inclined terrorist mastermind Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, plans to marry his French lawyer, the bride-to-be said Friday.
"It's a marriage of love and of compatibility of ideas," said Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, who continued to represent the Venezuelan-born revolutionary when half a dozen other lawyers had given him up as a lost cause.
"Between the image of him that is presented and the reality of what he is, there is a big difference," she said. "He is far more conformist than I."
The marriage is expected to take place at La Sante prison in Paris, where Carlos, 51, is serving a life sentence for the murder of two French secret service agents and a suspected informer in 1975.
Carlos remains under investigation for a number of attacks committed in France in the 1970s. He makes regular appearances in court -- usually sporting a silk cravat -- where he gives his profession as "revolutionary in the Leninist tradition" and denounces his prosecutors as "illegitimate servants of world Zionism" who are aiming to "Mcdonald's-ize humanity."
He is believed to be responsible for about 80 killings in the name of the Palestinian struggle and other revolutionary causes during the 1970s and 1980s. Carlos was finally captured in 1994 by French agents in Sudan.
In the 1980s he married Magdalena Kopp, a German who was linked for nearly 20 years to the Revolutionary Cells terrorist group and suspected of aiding him in several attacks.
Coutant-Peyre said she expected to be married to Carlos by early next year "at the latest," but refused to describe the planned ceremony beyond saying: "It won't be done in a classic way."
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS