Daniel Forestier
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From: https://sputniknews.com/europe/201904091073962440-alps-killing-spy-family/
Daniel Forestier — who previously worked at DGSE, France's equivalent of MI6 — was shot five times in the head and chest in a car park in Ballaison, close to the French border with Switzerland. The calculated and surgical nature of the shooting has led authorities to label the killing a "professional job".
The apparent assassination of a former French spy in the Alps could help crack the mystery of a British family murdered nearby in 2012.
The murder took place six months after Forestier was accused of plotting the assassination of General Ferdinand Mbaou, an opposition figure in the Republic of Congo. Forestier and another former intelligence agent were charged by French authorities in September 2018 with "criminal conspiracy" and "possession of explosives" in the course of a plot to assassinate Mbaou, who has lived in exile in France for around two decades. Forestier's killing is being investigated by the same Lyon crime squad which was investigating him over the Mbaou plot.
Even more intriguingly though, experts have noticed striking similarities between his killing and the slaying of Briton Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal, and her mother Suhaili al-Allaf. In both cases the victims were shot at point-blank range in little-used car parks in the Alps, with a low chance of witnesses — the same number of bullets were also used.
Ex-satellite engineer al-Hilli, of Claygate, Surrey, was shot at the wheel of his car in a lay-by in Chevaline, just an hour's drive from Ballaison. He'd taken his caravan to a local campsite with his wife, mother-in-law and two daughters in September 2012. French cyclist Sylvian Mollier was also murdered at the spot, while eldest girl Zainab, seven, was pistol-whipped and left for dead — she survived, as did her sister Zeena, four, who hid under her mother's skirt.
Police investigated al-Hilli's past in Iraq as an engineer on sensitive topics, as well as his work at the time of his death, which involved nuclear and satellite technology, as a potential motive for the attack. Mollier was also probed to determine if he was the primary target of the attack.
The Independent:
A French spy has been shot dead after being implicated in the attempted assassination of an exiled Congolese opposition figure.
The body of Daniel Forestier was discovered last week by police in a car park in the remote Alpine town of Ballaison, close to the French border with Switzerland.
The 57-year-old had been shot five times in the head and chest. Prosecutors said the calculated nature of the shooting meant it was being treated as a professional hit.
French media have widely reported Mr Forestier was a retired agent for the DGSE, France’s external intelligence agency, comparable to MI6.
Mr Forestier had been under investigation by authorities in connection with a plot to kill Ferdinand Mbahou, an exiled military general and high-profile opponent of the Congo-Brazzaville government.
The former agent was charged with “criminal conspiracy” and “possession of explosives” last year, following an attempt on Mr Mbahou’s life in 2015.
Speaking to Euronews, Mr Forestier’s lawyer, Cedric Huissoud, said his client had “firmly contested” the charges against him and accusations of his involvement in the plot were unfounded.
This connection has however led to speculation his apparent execution may be linked to the failed assassination attempt and detectives reportedly believe the killing may have been a revenge attack.
“It’s hard to believe that this murder bore no connection with his implication in the Mbahou affair,” an anonymous source close to the investigation told French news agency AFP.
However, another unnamed investigator told Le Parisien links to “parallel activities in Russia and Asia” were also being probed.
Mr Mbahou served as director of security to then-Congolese president Pascal Lissouba until 1997, when both were ousted by forces loyal to socialist leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.
With Mr Sassou Nguesso still in power, the general has spent the past 20 years exiled in France and has become an outspoken political opponent of the regime.
He narrowly escaped a separate assassination attempt in 2015, when he was shot outside his home in northern Paris.
Mr Forestier is thought to have been living in the village of Lucinges, around seven-and-a-half miles south of where his body had been discovered.
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