Nexus - 1204 - New Times Magazine-pages

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members—a nightmare for any male standing accused. The When I first met and interviewed Loic, I found that we were magistrate was accompanied by two puppet magistrate the same age and had both been involved in the events of 1968 assistants who didn't open their mouths at all. Maud Vignau, that had convulsed European society. Loic's experience of that the public prosecutor, on the other hand, opened her's too often. period was, however, quite different from mine. Loic was "What is there to say of my trial other than that it was a par- struggling not on behalf of the industrial working class, but ody of justice? I had already been subjected to five months' against the French Republic. His learning in the field of foren- imprisonment, so the punishment that awaited me could not be sic science and his scientific integrity, however, led him into a less than six months. In fact, I hardly heard the magistrate, twelve-year compromise with the Republic, which, in the long whose questions revealed a total lack of awareness of the case run, proved almost fatal. Now eight years after I first met him, and gross scientific ignorance. I understand Loic outside of political categories, as an individ- "What was most interesting was the behaviour of Maud ualist of great courage and ability. There is perhaps no one of Vignau, Deputy Prosecutor (she was a substitute). Throughout a greater awkwardness to a powerful political State than the my entire career as an expert, I had in fact only ever met mag- true individualist. istrates of integrity, solely concerned with the work of reveal- It is inevitably difficult to unravel the elements of the war ing the truth. In this case, I was brutally forced to behold a conducted by the French State against Loic Le Ribault. Was totally different face of justice: that of a magistrate who was he victimised because he exposed the shambles of French not standing, not sitting, but lolling sadisti- criminal forensic science? Has he been cally. ounded because he manufactured and dis- "Speaking in the name of the French peo- tributed medicine without a licence? Did ple, Maud Vignau was guilty of the follow- i he become a real danger to the French ing in her closing speech for the prosecu- The truth IS... that for armed forces and therefore the State when tion: some seven or eight he exposed the soldier Chanal as a serial + Lies: I had stolen inventions from the H i iller? French police force. years, with his Although it might appear that Loic was © Ignorance: G5 was a glass of 'water' (sic) development, eing pursued by French government agen- into which one threw a grain of sand. A cies mainly, or only, because his evidence - Crudeness: I was a charlatan. production and in Chanal's case would embarrass the ° Insults: she compared me to the miracle distribution of the French police and Ministry of the Interior, doctor in the children's cartoon Lucky Luke. + Dishonour: a letter of congratulation from Jacques Chaban-Delmas was turned into an example of how I 'made corpses speak'. Stupidity and arrogance: my patients were ‘suckers’. "At the end of this stream of venom, she finally imposed a gigantic fine and two years' imprisonment. To behave in such a dishonourable way, Maud Vignau must be a very sad person indeed. "The verdict having been deferred for deliberation, I was driven back for a week's imprisonment and then, as is pursuit by the French medical establish- ment has to be considered paramount. In his book, The Cost of A Discovery, published in 2003 Loic says: "I explained to Eroline O'Keeffe and her sister Noeleen, that an international arrest war- rant had been issued against me, officially for the illegal practice of medicine, but in reality because of my involvement with the police forensic services, and most of all over the Chanal case, for which I had official and writ- ten proof that expert reports pre- pared by the police laboratory in massively popular organic silica, Loic had really become a threat to the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical companies in France. was expected, condemned to pay a fine of 8,000 euros and to Lille had been completely and deliberately falsified." undergo one year's prison sentence with six months suspended This explanation suggests that the case brought against Loic for the illegal practice of medicine and pharmacy. I was of by the medical authorities is an excuse rather than a practical course cleared of the accusations of fraud and the sale of a reality. The truth is, however, that for some seven or eight toxic product. years, with his development, production and distribution of the "On the morning of 24th February, a week after my ‘trial’ the massively popular organic silica, Loic had really become a doors of the detention centre opened at last and I left, to an threat to the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical enormous ovation as 600 prisoners applauded my liberation companies in France. Ironically, Loic became marketed as a "4 and wished me good luck. dissident in a number of overlapping areas of French society and it is probably for all these lives equally, that he finds him- THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF A GREAT self in exile from the country of his birth; hounded by sinister SCIENTIST AND DETECTIVE forces. For a man who was always a leader in his scientific field, It is in the very nature of conspiracy that those who are with considerable academic qualifications, a man who mixed conspired against often have difficulty in defining clearly the with Presidents, one of the greatest detectives in modern exact cause of their victimisation. Europe, Loic le Ribault has recently led a bizarre life. One thing, however, can be said with some certainty: the Looking closely at his personal history, it is perhaps easy to French Republic has a disquieting history of arcane plots and A tha oa, af thie nnda. some seven or eight years, with his development, production and distribution of the massively popular organic silica, Loic had really become a threat to the medical THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF A GREAT SCIENTIST AND DETECTIVE For a man who was always a leader in his scientific field, with considerable academic qualifications, a man who mixed with Presidents, one of the greatest detectives in modern Europe, Loic le Ribault has recently led a bizarre life. Looking closely at his personal history, it is perhaps easy to understand the seeds of this. 22 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2005 The truth is ... that for establishment and the pharmaceutical companies in France. Continued on page 76 www.nexusmagazine.com