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Christian Prouteau (born 7 April 1944) is a retired French military officer in the French National Gendarmerie. He was involved in the organisation of the GIGN (of which he was prominent commander in) and the GSPR.
Prouteau graduated from Saint-Cyr, the French army's officers' school, in 1969. After a stint in the army, he transferred to the National Gendarmerie and graduated from École des officiers de la gendarmerie nationale, the Gendarmerie's Officers school. Posted to a Mobile Gendarmerie squadron (ie troop) he became an instructor in commando techniques. In 1973, in response to the Munich massacre, French authorities decided to create an elite unit capable of countering acts of terrorism. Prouteau was selected to organise GIGN.
Prouteau lead GIGN for 9 years, leading 64 interventions. He was severely wounded in 1980.
From 1982 to 1988, Prouteau directed the 'Anti-terrorist Cell' of the Élysée which was involved in the Élysée wiretap scandal and the "Irish of Vincennes" affair. Relaxed for the "Irish of Vincennes" case in 2002, he was found guilty in 2005, received a suspended eight-month sentence and fined 5000 Euros for his involvement in the wiretap scandal. [1] [2] [3]
Prouteau organised the security of the 1992 Winter Olympics.
He was appointed a préfet hors cadre (a prefect not attached to any particular prefecture) in March 1985.
Since retirement in 2009, he has been active as a television consultant and in various organizations (including the association of the former GIGN members).
The Republican Guard is part of the French National Gendarmerie. It is responsible for special security duties in the Paris area and for providing guards of honour at official ceremonies of the French Republic.
A gendarmerie is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term gendarme is derived from the medieval French expression gens d'armes, which translates to "men-at-arms". In France and some Francophone nations, the gendarmerie is a branch of the armed forces that is responsible for internal security in parts of the territory, with additional duties as military police for the armed forces. It was introduced to several other Western European countries during the Napoleonic conquests. In the mid-twentieth century, a number of former French mandates and colonial possessions adopted a gendarmerie after independence.
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.7 km (4.2 mi) from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the Bois de Vincennes, from which it took its name, which is attached to the city of Paris.
The GIGN is the elite police tactical unit of the National Gendarmerie of France. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection, and targeting organized crime.
The Parachute Intervention Squadron of the National Gendarmerie was a parachute-trained tactical unit of the French Gendarmerie. The squadron was formed in 1984 with personnel from EPGM, a one-of-a-kind parachute squadron that had been created within the mobile gendarmerie in 1971 and was disestablished at that date. EPIGN, was based in Versailles-Satory with its sister unit GIGN. Besides its primary mission of providing heavy support and reinforcement to GIGN, EPIGN soon developed its own set of missions in the fields of protection and observation. It was finally absorbed, together with the "old" GIGN, into the newly reorganized GIGN in September 2007.
Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion, commonly abbreviated RAID, is an elite tactical unit of the French National Police. Founded in 1985, it is headquartered in Bièvres, Essonne, approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Paris. RAID is the National Police counterpart of the National Gendarmerie's GIGN. Both units share responsibility for the French territory.
The Grand Mosque seizure was a siege that took place between 20 November and 4 December 1979 at the Grand Mosque of Mecca, the holiest Islamic site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The building was besieged by up to 600 militants under the leadership of Juhayman al-Otaybi, a Saudi anti-monarchy Islamist from the Otaibah tribe. They identified themselves as "al-Ikhwan", referring to the religious Arabian militia that had played a significant role in establishing the Saudi state in the early 20th century.
The National Gendarmerie is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, with additional duties from the Ministry of Armed Forces. Its responsibilities include policing smaller towns, suburbs and rural areas, crowd and riot control, and criminal investigation, including cybercrime. By contrast, the National Police is a civilian law enforcement agency that is in charge of policing cities and larger towns. Because of its military status, the Gendarmerie also fulfills a range of military and defence missions. The Gendarmerie has a strength of around 102,269 people.
The Bastille Day military parade, also known as the 14 July military parade, translation of the French name of Défilé militaire du 14 juillet, is a French military parade that has been held on the morning of Bastille Day, 14 July, each year in Paris since 1880, almost without exception. The parade passes down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées from Place Charles de Gaulle, centred around the Arc de Triomphe, to the Place de la Concorde, where the President stands, along with members of the Government, figures from the legislative branch, the Mayor of Paris, as well as foreign ambassadors to France.
Paul Barril is a former officer of the French Gendarmerie Nationale. He authored several books about his military career, touching sensitive political subjects of the Mitterrand era.
The "Irish of Vincennes" affair was a major political scandal which occurred in France during the presidency of François Mitterrand. Following a 1982 terrorist attack in Paris, a secret police anti-terrorist cell established by Mitterrand arrested three Irish nationals in Vincennes. Proudly proclaimed as a victory against 'international terrorism', the case fell apart and the suspects were cleared of all charges before the case came to trial when it was revealed that weapons and other evidence used against the three had been planted by the arresting officers, who then lied to the investigating judge, with the press alleging that documents supporting the suspects' innocence had been covered up by the executive government.
The Mobile Gendarmerie (GM) is a subdivision of the French National Gendarmerie whose main mission is to maintain public order and general security. Contrary to the Departmental Gendarmerie, whose jurisdiction is limited to specific parts of the territory, the Mobile Gendarmerie can operate anywhere in France and even abroad as the Gendarmerie is a component of the French Armed Forces. Although the term "mobile" has been used at different times in the 19th century, the modern Mobile Gendarmerie was created in 1921.
L'École des officiers de la gendarmerie nationale, the French Gendarmerie nationale Officers School, was created in 1901 and based in the Schomberg barracks in Paris. It provides a military education in order to train and teach military officers who enter the officer corps.
Denis Favier is a French officer known for commanding the mission to remove hijackers from Air France Flight 8969. From 2013 to 2016, he was the General-Director of the French Gendarmerie.
The Médaille de la Gendarmerie nationale is a French military decoration created on 5 September 1949 on proposition of the then Minister of Defence, mister Paul Ramadier. It was originally created in a single grade for award to officiers and NCOs of the Gendarmerie nationale who were cited in the orders of the entire service. Such a citation in the orders of the entire service, and all potential subsequent ones would be denoted by a grenade device on the ribbon as the medal could, and can still only be awarded once to any potential recipient. The medal could also be exceptionally awarded to persons not members of the service for important services rendered to the gendarmerie or for help during special missions. These presentations were made without a citation and thus without any ribbon device.
Rebellion is a 2011 French historical drama film directed, produced, co-written, co-edited, and starring Mathieu Kassovitz. Set in New Caledonia in 1988 and filmed in Tahiti, the film is a dramatised version of the Ouvéa cave hostage taking, when four policemen were murdered by separatists and 30 taken hostage. The French government refused to prolong negotiations and French forces stormed the hideout, killing 19 separatists for the loss of two soldiers and freeing all hostages. Kassovitz, Benoît Jaubert and Pierre Geller were collectively nominated for the 2012 Best Writing (Adaptation) César Award.
Major is the seniormost non-commissioned officer rank in France and other Francophone countries. Unlike most other countries which use the old European rank system, France uses Commandant as its lowest ranking senior officer.
Arnaud Jean-Georges Beltrame was a lieutenant colonel in the French Gendarmerie nationale and deputy commander of the Departmental Gendarmerie's Aude unit, who was murdered by an Islamic terrorist at Trèbes after having exchanged himself for a hostage. French President Emmanuel Macron said that Beltrame deserved "the respect and admiration of the whole nation." A state funeral was held at Les Invalides, Paris; for his bravery and adherence to duty he was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel and made a Commander of the Legion of Honour.
The National Gendarmerie of Gabon is the national police force of Gabon responsible for law enforcement in Gabon. It is under the direct command of the President of Gabon. The Gendarmerie is also in charge of the Gabonese Republican Guard.
Jean-Michel Beau was a French gendarme. He served during the Irish of Vincennes affair in 1982.
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