/ 12 February 2001

FRENCH MERCENARY ?QUIETLY? FREED

FRENCH mercenary Daniel Clerino has been quietly released from jail in the Comoros, where he was held for 11 months in connection with a coup bid last March, and has left for his home in Reunion, an officer at the jail said. Clerino was accused of involvement in an abortive coup on March 21 last year, allegedly led by Captain Abderemane Ahmed Abdallah, son of former president Ahmed Abdallah who was assassinated in November 1989. The Frenchman and other defendants had been detained pending trial. – AFP