Jacques Tillier is a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and the managing editor of ''

L'Union L'Union (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It is a suburb of Toulouse, located just to the northeast of the city. History L'Union was founded in the 1790s after the fusion of ''Belbèze'' and ''Cornaudr ...

'', ', ' and '. He was seriously injured in 1979 by

Jacques Mesrine Jacques Mesrine (; 28 December 19362 November 1979) was a French criminal responsible for numerous murders, bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France, the US, and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made internation ...

while working for the ''

Minute A minute is a unit of time defined as equal to 60 seconds. It is not a unit in the International System of Units (SI), but is accepted for use with SI. The SI symbol for minutes is min (without a dot). The prime symbol is also sometimes used i ...

''. He was also director of the ''

Journal de l'île de La Réunion A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

'' before becoming the CEO of ''L'Union''.

Biography

After several years as a policeman in the

Directorate of Territorial Security The Direction de la surveillance du territoire (, , abbr. DST) was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security ...

(DST),http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8jajo_jacques-tillier-parle-de-jacques-me_na (French) Tillier pursued a career as a journalist, first writing for ''Minute'', a right-wing weekly journal. Using his past police connections and his friendship with Commissioner Lucien Aimé-Blanc, head of the (OCRB), he began to write articles that contradicted the "honourable gangster" image conveyed by Jacques Mesrine, who in France was public enemy number one. In spite of Mesrine's threats, Tillier continued to publish articles refuting the criminal's image as a modern day Robin Hood. Tillier gained an exclusive interview with Mesrine on 10 September 1979, but Mesrine and his accomplice, , drove Tillier to a candlelit cave in the Forest of Halatte, where they forced him to strip naked before handcuffing him. Mesrine beat, tortured and humiliated Tillier, claiming that he was a

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

and police informant. He then shot Tillier three times with a revolver, first in the face, "to stop him talking crap", then in the arm "to stop him writing crap" and finally in the leg "for the pleasure of it". He took pictures as Tillier lay naked and bloodied, and left him for dead. Tillier survived the ordeal, although he lost the use of one arm. After two weeks in hospital he returned to ''Minute'', but eventually decided to leave the weekly. He became advisor to

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo, 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has been serving as the second president of Cameroon since 1982. He was previously the fifth Prime Minister of Cameroon, prime minister under Pre ...

, President of the

Republic of Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, and Lansana Conte in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

. Tillier then returned to journalism and worked on the ''

'' (JIR), where in the early 1990s he was appointed editor. JIR was bought by ''

France-Antilles ''France-Antilles'' is a daily, French-language newspaper published in Guadeloupe and Martinique. The newspaper is owned by Groupe Hersant Média. ''France-Antilles''. It also publishes a sister publication in French Guiana French Guiana, o ...

'', a subsidiary of the . Tillier subsequently became its director and CEO. In his editorial published on 9 February 2008, entitled "", he announced his departure from the JIR. He became the CEO of the daily ''

'' in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillier, Jacques 20th-century French journalists 21st-century French journalists French chief executives French editors French male journalists French police officers French torture victims Kidnapped French people Living people Missing person cases in France Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

See also

References