Carlos the Jackal Wants to Protect His Image

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, aka world-famous terrorist Carlos the Jackal, wants final cut of a French documentary about his life and is willing to sue to get it, according to a story in the Washington Post.  Ramirez, sentenced to life in a Paris prison, has filed suit against French production company Film in Stock, demanding that it give him three months to review the content of, and impose changes to, the documentary once it’s completed in order to protect his intellectual property rights in his name and biographical image. He’s worried that the documentary will be a propaganda film unless he can monitor its accuracy. Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, Ramirez’s attorney and wife, also alleged that Film in Stock planned to portray Ramirez as the instigator of several terrorist attacks for which he was not convicted in violation of his right to presumption of innocence. 

Film in Stock has countered that granting Ramirez the right to edit would deprive Film in Stock of its guaranteed right to freedom of speech. It also argued to the French court that no other French public figure or politician would get the right to edit a biographical documentary. The court is expected to rule on this issue on February 4, 2010. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ramirez never sued the author Robert Ludlum over his use of “Carlos the Jackal” in the Bourne trilogy. Of course, these books were published well before Ramirez’s capture in 1994.  It’s probably difficult to file lawsuits when you’re on the run from international spy agencies.