Police suspect admits he was behind Sarkozy death threats

French police seem to have "got their man" in their long-running hunt to find the identity of the person nicknamed "le corbeau" (the crow) in the French media.

A 51-year-old man taken in for questioning at the weekend has reportedly admitted that he alone was behind a series of letters and death threats sent to a number of leading politicians, including the French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

The suspect, Thierry Jérôme is, according to the weekly French newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, an unemployed husband and father who lives in the Hérault département the south of the country.

According to investigators, he's apparently "someone who is unbalanced" and a member of a local gun club.

The paper says his arrest came on Sunday following a DNA match with a sample taken for the stamp on one of the anonymous letters which had been sent from the region since the end of 2008.

That was when Sarkozy as well as several government ministers (past and present) as well as high profile media figures started receiving threatening letters, some of them accompanied by a bullet.

Over the past couple of weeks, says the paper, police have been taking DNA samples from members of local clubs in an effort to find a match and identify the suspect.

On Monday police extended Jérôme's custody although they released his wife, Ariane and are now questioned his 27-year-old daughter Angélique, to have a "clearer understanding of the character of her father".

Should Jérôme be charged, it would see the end to an investigation which has seen 12 other people taken in for questioning this year.

In March a military reservist from Montpellier was taken in and held after being "denounced" by his former girlfriend, but later released without being charged.

And at the beginning of this month police swooped on around 20 homes in l'Hérault taking 11 people in for questioning before releasing them.

Police step up investigations in Sarkozy death threat case

There has been a development in the case of "le corbeau" (the crow) - or perhaps that should be put in the plural.

On Thursday, police swooped on around 20 homes in the southern French département of l'Hérault and took 11 people in for questioning

You might remember that the affair of le corbeau dates back to the end of 2008 when a number of leading politicians, including the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and several government ministers (past and present), as well as high profile media figures started receiving threatening letters, some of them accompanied by a bullet.

All the letters reportedly carried a postmark indicating they had been sent from l'Hérault.

At the beginning of this year there were two waves of letters, each one warning the recipients that their lives and those of their families were at risk.

While the media speculated as to whether the (anonymous) letters were the work of a group or a cell, the nterior minister at the time, Michèle Alliot-Marie, also suggested that it could be the ramblings of an unbalanced individual or "someone who was a little deranged".

The most recently reported case (you can read about it here) was just last month, when a letter addressed to Sarkozy was intercepted at the central sorting office in the southern city of Montpellier.

Thursday's operation took place early in the morning in the town of Saint-Pons-de-Thomières as well as the neighbouring villages of Prémian and Riols (you'll need to get your maps out to locate them precisely).

Those questioned and detained were a mixed bunch, according to the regional daily Midi Libre, from all walks of life.

But some of them, says the paper, had a number of points in common such as their opposition to a local (Socialist) politician, were members of a local gun shooting club or were hunters.

This time around the police are being, as the national daily Le Figaro puts it, "prudent" in their investigations and remaining tight-lipped.

That might well have something to do with the last occasion on which someone was taken in for questioning back in March this year, when a military reservist from Montpellier was taken in held after being "denounced" by his former girlfriend, but later released without being charged.

Sarkozy: Popularity and death threats - a newsday in the life of a president

The two stories are unrelated, but both broke on the same day here in France, and centre on the country's president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Treat it as "two for the price of one" if you will.

On the same day a poll was released indicating a rise in Sarkozy's popularity, there was also news that he had been sent another letter, with a bullet, threatening both his life and that of members of his family.

First that poll, which as any sceptic will know can always be interpreted in more than one way.

For sure there have been plenty of them released with alarming regularity ever since Sarkozy entered office in May 2007.

And while most in recent months have put him at, or around, the 40 per cent mark, the latest one, conducted by the research institute, Conseils Sondages Analyses CSA) on behalf of the the weekly news, celebrity (how appropriate you might be thinking) and leisure magazine Vendredi, Samedi, Dimanche (VSD) shows a reversal in that trend.

Asked the simple question, "Is he a good president?" 53 per cent of those questioned said "Yes". That's a whopping 12 point increase from a similar poll in May.

The explanation as far as Jean-Daniel Lévy from CSA is concerned is perhaps the timing of the poll. It's the first one to appear since Sarkozy's "malaise" or "nerve attack" as some media outlets first reported it, last month.

"After being taken ill, one could have expected the following reaction, 'The president is overdoing it'," he says.

"On the contrary though, the French seem to think that it's a sign of how much effort he (Sarkozy) puts into everything and the increase in popularity is an indication of how much he 'gives' the country," he adds.

"The fact that he shows some weaknesses and recognises like the rest of the world them just makes him more likeable."

No comment perhaps.

While the poll's findings might make pleasant beach reading for the French president as he relaxes in the south of France, the news that "Le Corbeau" is back to his old habits certainly won't.

That's the nickname given to the person (or people) who earlier this year sent letters containing death threats and a bullet to Sarkozy and a number of top-ranking political figures (you can read more about that here).

This week another letter, also containing a bullet and further threats to Sarkozy and his family, was intercepted before it had made its way to the Elysée palace.

It was discovered at the central sorting office in the southern city of Montpellier, the same source of the previous letters, and immediately handed over to the anti-terrorist squad in Paris.

Alongside the threats aimed at the French president, several other high profile political figures are also reportedly mentioned, including the current and former culture ministers, Frédéric Mitterrand and Christine Albanel.

In March, a 47-year-old military reservist from Montpellier was taken in for questioning after being "denounced" by his former girlfriend, but later released without being charged.

Death threats and fake bombs

Here in France there has been quite a buzz over the past couple of weeks over two rather similar but unrelated events.

The first concerns the death threats received by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and a number of top ranking political figures.

They were each sent a letter warning them their lives and those of their families were potentially at risk, along with a 38 calibre bullet.

The first letters were sent to Sarkozy and Raymond Couderc, a senator and the mayor of southwestern town of Béziers, at the beginning of February.

And towards the end of February a second wave of letters was sent to, amongst others, the justice minister - Rachida Dati, the interior minister - Michèle Alliot-Marie and the culture minister - Christine Albanel.

The media was rife with speculation as to whether the anonymous letters were the work of a group or "cell" or perhaps the ramblings of one slightly unbalanced individual or as Alliot-Marie said at one point "someone who was a little deranged".

On Wednesday the mystery seemed to have been solved when a 47-year-old military reservist was arrested at his home in Montpellier and taken into police custody.

He had reportedly been "denounced" by his former girlfriend and although he is currently only "helping police with their investigations", if charged and found guilty he could face a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment and a fine of up to €45,000.

While that has been making the headlines, another somewhat similar case also made the news this past week.

Similar in the sense that it seems at face value to be a threat from an anonymous source - this time though aimed at a supermarket chain and the general public.

It involves a man in the town of Vannes in the west of France, who last weekend went along to a local supermarket to do his weekly shop.

Doing as so many of us have been advised to do at a time when belt-tightening and counting the centimes is paramount, he added a family-sized (850 grammes) jar of Nutella - a kind of chocolate spread often eaten on toast at breakfast time - to his trolley and continued with his shopping before heading to the check-out, paying and going home.

A couple of days later, according to a report in Wednesday's edition of the national daily, Le Parisien and reported throughout the media, he opened the jar and discovered not the famous spread he had been looking forward to, but.........in its place something that resembled a bomb.

Not surprisingly he contacted the authorities immediately and a bomb disposals expert was dispatched to his home. Although it turned out to be merely a harmless copy, the regional police have opened an enquiry to discover how a fake bomb came to be inside a jar of Nutella in the first place.

The manufacturer of the product here in France, Ferrero, released a statement to the media on Wednesday in which it said that the first it had heard of the "bomb" was from the reports in the newspapers.

"It's highly unlikely that the production facilities were involved in any way," the statement read, which of course rather leaves everyone wondering how it got there and why?

Strange perhaps, and maybe not to be taken as light-heartedly if, as Le Parisien reports, the accompanying note found with the "bomb" is to be believed.

In a hand- written message the police were warned to treat the affair seriously and do their utmost to find the culprit as soon as possible.