Mr Baudis says the allegations are part of a
conspiracy against him |
Veteran
French politician Dominique Baudis has challenged judges to
investigate allegations that he was involved in sado-masochistic
orgies organised by a convicted serial killer.
Mr Baudis, who heads France's media watchdog the CSA, strongly
denies the accusations and says he is facing a political vendetta.
His challenge follows reports that the convicted killer, Patrice
Alegre, has accused Mr Baudis of being involved in the orgies.
 It is unacceptable that a man's honour
can be tainted by the words of a murderer serving a life
sentence and of two prostitutes 
Francis Szpiner
Baudis lawyer
|
Two prostitutes
have already made the same allegation.
Alegre, who appeared before magistrates at the weekend, also
confessed to the murder of two more people - a female prostitute and
a transvestite - in addition to the five he is known to have killed.
He said he carried out the murders under instructions from public
figures, who feared the transvestite would release pictures taken
with a hidden camera and that the prostitute "would not keep her
mouth shut".
The orgies are alleged to have taken place in Toulouse, when Mr
Baudis was mayor of the city.
One city official, chief prosecutor Jean Volff, resigned over the
scandal last week.
Mr Volff said he had been named in the prostitutes' testimony to
police but described their story as "totally implausible".
'Revenge'
Mr Baudis, an influential figure in the governing centre-right
party, UMP, has led a vocal campaign to ban hardcore pornography
from television over the last year.
The former mayor says he believes that elements of the
pornography industry may be spreading the orgy stories in order to
get revenge on him for the campaign.
I cannot accept that the truth will be
suppressed because the people involved are people in power
Patrice Alegre
convicted killer
|
He has asked to
be put under investigation so that his lawyer can gain access to the
evidence against him.
"It is unacceptable that a man's honour can be tainted by the
words of a murderer serving a life sentence and of two prostitutes,"
Mr Baudis' lawyer, Francis Szpiner, told Liberation newspaper.
Asked why his client had taken the unusual step of asking to be
placed under judicial investigation, Mr Szpiner said it was "the
only way to fight on equal terms against the purveyors of slander".
Being placed under formal investigation is a step that falls
short of criminal charges but implies a prima facie case.
Cocaine
Alegre, for his part, said he wanted the truth to be told.
"I cannot accept that the truth will be suppressed because the
people involved are people in power," he wrote in a letter sent
secretly from prison and published in Monday's French press.
"[The two prostitutes] are telling the truth when they say they
went with me to sado-masochistic parties... and that certain members
of the Toulouse bourgeoisie were there, and everyone was going for
the cocaine," Alegre wrote.
Alegre was jailed for life in 2002 for six rapes and five
murders.
He is also under investigation in connection with a criminal
network in Toulouse said to have involved minors and cocaine.
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