55 Years On, Lawyer Seeks Truth in Moroccan Dissident’s Paris Disappearance

"It is a fight for justice and truth," Maurice Buttin told AFP. This lawyer who has been investigating the Ben Barka case for 55 years, says he is still determined to provide answers to two essential questions: "Who killed? What happened to the body?"

Ben Barka, Hassan II’s main opponent (1961-1999), leader of the socialist opposition and figure of the Socialist International, was assassinated on October 29, 1965, near Paris where he lived in exile. He was subject to two death sentences in absentia in Morocco. That day, he had an appointment in front of the Lipp brasserie, 151 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, with the filmmaker, Georges Franju, who was considering making a film on decolonization, entitled "Basta!". This will be the last time the 45-year-old opponent will be seen.

A long and historic investigation will begin after his disappearance. The justice system did not have enough elements to solve the case. But the marathon trials, in the presence of more than 200 witnesses, between 1966 and 1967, will have made it possible to establish that the Moroccan secret services of the Cab 1, had planned the kidnapping of Ben Barka. And this, with the complicity of French policemen and thugs. 1975, new complaint from the family. And then, nothing.

Maurice Buttin will explain that the investigation remained blocked because in Morocco, "the status of divine right (of the king) makes any form of criticism impossible". For Maurice Buttin, Hassan II did not order his murder, but he is still guilty of the death of the opponent, caused by a blunder of his kidnappers. "Only Rabat knows the truth, but those who know refuse to speak," he laments. "As long as God lends me life, I will continue," says this lawyer who has been retired for 15 years.