Dead French contractor 'jeopardised the revolution'

A French security contractor shot dead near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya was working against the country's revolution, the rebel leadership has said. Private contracting company Secopex said it had turned down work with Gaddafi.

An ex-French paratrooper shot dead by police in the rebel-held Libyan city Benghazi, and four compatriots in custody here, were working to undermine the anti-Kadhafi revolution, rebels said Friday.

"On the evening of 11 May, local security forces in Benghazi were instructed to arrest a group of five Frenchmen for illicit activities that jeopardised the security of free Libya," the rebel National Transitional Council said.

"Regrettably, one of the suspects was accidentally shot after resisting arrest," a statement said, without providing details of the men's alleged activities but saying a formal investigation was underway.

The dead man has been identified as Pierre Marziali, the founder of French private security firm Secopex. The four detained men worked for the company.

Secopex said it had been prospecting for security work in Benghazi. One of its executives told a French newspaper he had recently been in Tripoli where he had turned down an offer to work for the regime of Moamer Kadhafi.

Interesting. The press release from the rebels was published after two diplomatic sources from Europe (see Le Figaro) had suggested the French could be spies for Quaddhafi. The boss of the company, Secopex, had only just arrived from Cairo, and was suppoesed to meet (according to one executive at the firm) with the leaders in Benghazi.

Did the French end up the victims of a power struggle among the rebels?
or victims of a power struggle among oil hungry EU nations?
or just a trigger happy Benghazi "police"?

The French have been very quiet...

Oh yes, those wonderful Egyptian and us rebels, the whole country is behind them, daffy and his two dozen supports are dead meat. Problem is that is backward. Killing people that just arrived and calling them spies, just sounds so ragtag, sort of like shooting your own lookouts.

Thanks Cardhu.

A French security contractor shot dead near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya was working against the country's revolution, the rebel leadership has said. Private contracting company Secopex said it had turned down work with Gaddafi. An ex-French paratrooper shot dead by police in the rebel-held Libyan city Benghazi, and four compatriots in custody... "On the evening of 11 May, local security forces in Benghazi were instructed to arrest a group of five Frenchmen for illicit activities that jeopardised the security of free Libya," the rebel National Transitional Council said... The dead man has been identified as Pierre Marziali, the founder of French private security firm Secopex.

Shot while resisting arrest -- nice touch, you jihadist liars.

Meanwhile, Somalian piracy has been raging for a couple of years, and, bupkis has been done by the US or NATO. And here's a related topic (and forget about the question mark, but make that "Squads" and switch the first two words of the headline):

Have the Libyan Rebels Formed a Death Squad to Punish Qaddafi Loyalists?

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