New threat letter sent to Sarkozy
PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy has received another threatening letter containing a bullet, just days after a man was charged over dozens of mysterious death threats, a judicial official said today.
The anonymous author of the letter that arrived at the Elysee presidential palace last week said he was "picking up the baton" from a shadowy group known as Cell 34, which has sent some 30 letters to politicians in recent months.
Anti-terror police have opened an investigation after the latest letter, postmarked from Roubaix in northern France, was intercepted.
A 51-year-old unemployed handicapped member of a shooting club was arrested September 20 in the village of Herepian in southern France. He has been charged with issuing death threats and remanded in custody.
Dozens of letters signed "Combatants of Cell 34" have been sent to politicians since the beginning of the year.
The writer or writers were demanding a halt to France's expulsion of illegal immigrants and the release from prison of Jean-Marc Rouillan, the leader of the armed leftist group Action Directe, among others.
