Bruno Bréguet (born 29 May 1950) was a Swiss militant, known as the first European arrested and condemned for pro-Palestinian militant activities.Entry for Bréguet in the "Biographies of film's participants",
Terror's Advocate, a film by Barbet Schroeder
'', Star PR (Mongrel Media), 2007. He was an associate of

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal () or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convict who conducted a series of assassinations and terrorist bombings from 1973 to 1985. A committed Marxist–Leninist, h ...

, better known as "Carlos the Jackal". He disappeared in 1995.

Career

Israeli mission

In 1970 Bréguet, then 19 years old, traveled to Lebanon to join the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

(PFLP). A few weeks later, he was arrested on 23 June 1970 in Israel, while carrying two kilograms of explosives with the purpose of dynamiting harbour installations in Haifa. His friend

François Genoud François Genoud (26 October 1915 – 30 May 1996) was a noted Swiss financier and a principal benefactor of the Nazi diaspora through the ODESSA escape network and supporter of Middle Eastern militant groups during the post-World War II 20th cent ...

asked his son-in-law, lawyer Maurice Cruchon, to defend Bréguet. Bréguet, who denied any ties with the PFLP, was sentenced in 1971 to 15 years imprisonment, but was pardoned in 1977 as a result of public advocacy by an international committee of supporters that included

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

and

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

—as well as Genoud. He was expelled from Israel on 24 July 1977. In the late 1970s, Bréguet may have established links with militants of Prima Linea. He wrote an account of his captivity in Israel that was published in 1980 in Milan under the title ''La scuola dell'odio'' (''The School of Hate'') ().

Radio Free Europe bombing

Richard Cummings writes that Bréguet joined Carlos' group in 1980 and took part in its 1981 bombing of

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

headquarters in Munich as his first operation. In August 1996 German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Bréguet in connection with that attack.

French missions

In February 1982 Bréguet and Carlos' wife Magdalena Kopp (fresh from a failed 18 January 1982 mission to destroy the

Superphénix Superphénix (; , SPX) was a nuclear power station prototype on the Rhône river at Creys-Mépieu, Creys-Malville in France, close to the border with Switzerland. Superphénix was a 1,242 MWe fast breeder reactor with the twin goals of reprocessi ...

nuclear power plant in France) were arrested in an underground parking garage in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. They were carrying in the trunk of their vehicle two bottles of gas, two kilos of explosives linked to a timer set to go off at ten-thirty, and two grenades. During the arrest, Bréguet attempted to kill the police with a gun that misfired. Bréguet and Kopp denied they were on a terrorist mission. François Genoud asked his friend, lawyer Jacques Vergès, to defend them in court. Carlos' organization also set off several bombs in retaliation for the arrest, and Carlos then wrote to French interior minister

Gaston Defferre Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956 ...

demanding their release within thirty days. When the letter was leaked to the press, the publicity ended in the pair getting lighter prison sentences with the attempted murder charge dropped. It was later said that Bréguet and Kopp had been hired to bomb the Paris office of the magazine '' Al Watan al Arabi'' at 33 Rue Marbeuf, which was eventually hit on 22 April 1982.Holy war. Wilhelm Dietl. Macmillan, 1984. , . p. 150 Bréguet and Kopp were both paroled in 1985 and rejoined Carlos in Damascus, Syria. Later, Bréguet set down with family in Greece.

CIA agent

The Swiss historian Adrian Hänni showed in his 2023 book ''Terrorist und CIA Agent'' that Bréguet collaborated with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from at least 1991 onward. As a paid agent with the cryptonym FDBONUS/1, he provided the CIA with information on the Carlos group and spied on Greek left-wing terrorist organizations.

Disappearance

Bréguet was last seen on 12 November 1995 on board the ferry ''Lato'' sailing from Italy to Greece. Searches by Greek police and Interpol revealed nothing. There are various theories and rumours regarding his disappearance. Some have speculated that he was killed by former associates, that he went into hiding because of evidence against him in recently released

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

files, or that he cooperated with authorities and has since been living under a new identity. His family has charged that he was kidnapped by the Greek or French secret service. It has been said in late 1996 that he may have been captured by the French DGSE to be confronted with witnesses and documents, concerning the implication of high regional officials of Nice in arms traffic to Algeria. Bréguet reportedly cooperated with French intelligence and justice. Bréguet is also believed to have been murdered as a body who was found in Greece might have been his, but the authorities have not proved this be true. In 2009, Carlos wrote to newly elected US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

alleging that Bréguet had been kidnapped by "CIA agents backed by Nato naval commandos" and asking for information on his current whereabouts.

References

Books

* (IT) Bruno Breguet, La scuola dell'odio. Sette anni nelle prigioni israeliane, Red star press 2015,

Literature

* Adrian Hänni, Terrorist und CIA-Agent. Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizers Bruno Breguet, NZZ Libro, Basel 2023, ISBN 978-3-907291-87-0

Films

* Olmo Cerri, La scomparsa di Bruno Breguet (2024), Switzerland {{DEFAULTSORT:Breguet, Bruno 1950 births 1990s missing person cases Fugitives Missing Swiss people Missing person cases in Italy Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members Swiss criminals Swiss people imprisoned abroad Terrorism in France Prisoners and detainees of Israel