Johannes Weinrich

Johannes Weinrich, 57, was charged with six counts of murder and 22 counts of attempted murder. He was accused in twin New Year's Eve blasts at the main train station in Marseille that killed five people in 1983 and a car bombing in Paris that killed a passer-by in 1982.

But judges said Aug. 23 that, after a 17-month trial, they lacked solid evidence of Weinrich's involvement in the attacks.

Presiding Judge Ralph Ehestaedt said documents provided by France were missing some 8,000 pages. He also cited the absence of potential witnesses from Jordan and Cuba -- and the failure of two attempts to have Carlos testify. Much of the evidence that the court did get was hearsay, he said.

Weinrich, who once headed European operations for Ilich Ramirez Sanchez -- the man known as Carlos -- was captured and extradited from Yemen in 1995. Despite the ruling, he will stay in prison, where he is serving a life sentence for a 1983 attack on a French cultural center in then-West Berlin that killed one man.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 28, 2004
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