Jean-Charles Marchiani
Jean-Charles Marchiani, (born August 6, 1943) is a French prefect and politician. He is also a former officer of the French external intelligence agency (DGSE). Jean-Charles Marchiani is a counter-terrorism expert, especially focused on Islamic fundamentalism. Marchiani has notably been the head negotiator for the liberation of French hostages in Lebanon and Bosnia.
Jean-Charles Marchiani was only 19 when he was recruited by DGSE, while completing Law school in Aix-en-Provence (south-east of France), during the Algerian war. From 1962 to 1970, he served as a DGSE officer. In 1970, he started a career in the private sector. From 1986 to 1988 and from 1993 to 1995, Marchiani was appointed as a special advisor for Homeland Security Minister Charles Pasqua. He was notably in charge of intelligence and counter-terrorism during the 1995 Algerian GIA terrorist attacks in Paris.
Jean-Charles Marchiani became a national hero in France in 1988, when he managed to free three French civilians, held hostages for three years in Bairut by Hezbollah militias. Despite official intelligence agencies' efforts, diplomats Marcel Carton and Marcel Fonataine, as well as journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann were kept prisoners for more than three years. Jean-Charles Marchiani held double negotiations with Hezbollah dignitaries in Lebanon as well as with Iranian and Syrian officials. He was therefore able to free the three French nationals on May 5, 1988.
Jean-Charles Marchiani was asked in September 1995 by French president Jacques Chirac to start unofficial negotiations with Bosnian nationalists for the liberation of two French Air Force pilots whose jet had been shot down during the Nato bombings in former Yugoslavia. Jean-Charles Marchiani used his connections with former KGB officers to contact Serbian president Radovan Karadžić and threatened him to have French forces leaving Sarajevo, where they were protecting Serbian minority. On December 12, 1995, the two pilots were freed and sent back to France.
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