Bernard Borrel

Bernard Borrel was a French magistrate in Djibouti. He died under mysterious circumstances on 19 October 1995.

At the time of his death, Borrel was assigned to the Justice Ministry in Djibouti to review and adapt the French civil and penal codes to the Djiboutian justice system. Borrel was an experienced magistrate and begun to have problems with the head of the Justice department he was supposed to serve and who kept him isolated. Bernard Borrel had officially requested a transfer to another African country. Also, a month to the day prior to his death, Bernard Borrel's best friend in France, Judge Charles Clerc-Renaud (40), with whom he had served at his prior posting in Lisieux, France, committed suicide. According to several witnesses, Bernard Borrel was down and depressed the last days prior to his death.

His burned body was found at the bottom of a ravine, 80 kilometers from Djibouti. Initial investigations by French officials who arrived first at the scene, including two policemen assigned to the French Embassy, and later confirmed by the Djiboutian investigation, stated the cause of death was suicide and found no indication of foul play. The day of his death, local poilice found out, Mr Borrel withdrew the equivalent of 8.000 US dollars from his joined bank account, amount he left to his wife with several letters. The existence of the money and letters were mysteriously concealed for unexplained reasons to Djiboutian policemen by his wife. Bernard Borrel also had personally bought 6 liters of gas at a local gas station that was served in the gas-can that he owned.