ESPIONAGE: The Murder of Mehdi Ben Barka

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Violent Deaths. Thirteen people were eventually charged with crimes related to the Ben Barka case, but few actually stood trial. Oufkir and an intelligence agent code named "Chtouki" (real name: Mohammed Miloued) refused to return to France. They were convicted in absentia of illegal arrest and confinement and given life sentences. Dlimi did stand trial and was acquitted. Two of the French undercover agents got prison terms for "illegally detaining" him. Other people involved in the murder try to live in the shadows. Since Ben Barka's death, at least 37 people connected with the case have disappeared; some are known to have died violently. Oufkir reportedly committed suicide after the failure of an assassination plot against King Hassan in 1972. Two French operatives were murdered; a third, according to official reports, committed suicide as police moved in to pick him up for questioning. Villa Owner Boucheseiche, meanwhile, disappeared shortly after the murder and has never been seen again. "Too many people knew too much," one French participant told TIME. "The Moroccans and the SDECE have a long memory."

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