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Between April 1982 and January 1984, Carlos' name was linked with attacks in Germany and France, including the bombing of a high-speed train outside Paris and the French Cultural Center in Germany, many in an effort to gain Kopp's freedom. She eventually joined him in Syria after she was released from prison in May 1985. Their sojourn in Damascus, which included a wedding and the birth of a daughter, was finally cut short in 1991, after newspapers publicized his whereabouts and an embarrassed Syria evicted him.
Carlos bounced around to Yemen and Jordan, falling deeper into disfavor. Somewhere along the way he lost his wife and child. "The marriage was a mistake," says an Arab friend. "He never trusted women." That same friend says, "He didn't trust the governments he worked for. This is why he was often depressed." It also explains why Carlos always carried a Russian pistol and never slept two nights in the same place.
Now Carlos can count on the same bed for many nights to come as he waits to stand trial. He has ordered his lawyers to file suit against French agents, whom he claims drugged, bound and abducted him from Sudan. In Paris the Justice Ministry is vowing to open old files that could compel Carlos to stand trial at least four times. Meanwhile, Berlin's attorney general is threatening to seek extradition for a 1983 bombing. In the Middle East, Arabs are bracing for shocking disclosures, since Carlos is "a walking encyclopedia of terrorism," says investigating magistrate Bruguiere. An East European diplomat in Beirut admits that "a lot of people would like him to have a heart attack very quickly in his French prison. If he talks, it will create scandals all over the world."
Until then, the graying Jackal sits in his underground cell, where he is barred access to television, radio and newspapers. Perhaps that is a kindness. If Carlos knew how the world is dismissing him as an overrated has-been, it might strike him as the cruelest fate of all.