To: William B. Kohn who wrote (12773 ) 3/19/2002 4:30:23 AM From: GUSTAVE JAEGER Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 23908 An org chart/chain of command? I'm working on it! In the meantime, here's the latest snippet on the Belgian-Tunisian connection:Belgian ex-minister in 'drugs death' March 18, 2002 Posted: 9:53 AM EST (1453 GMT) BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A former Belgian minister suspected of being involved in the murder of a prominent politician has been found dead, police said. Alain Van der Biest died from an apparent drugs overdose at his mother's home in the southeastern town of Liege, said police, who suspected suicide. Van der Biest, a former pensions minister in the Belgian federal government, was waiting to hear whether he would have to go on trial in connection with the 1991 murder of socialist politician Andre Cools. Cools, also a former minister and the patriarch of socialist politics in the southern Francophone half of Belgium, was gunned down outside his mistress's home on July 18, 1991. Van der Biest, 58, left a letter to his wife proclaiming his innocence, said his lawyer Jean-Luc Dessy. "Few people could have withstood the pressure of the inquiry," Dessy told The Associated Press. "The letter is clear. He writes it to his wife: 'My love, I want to end my ordeal. Forgive me. I am innocent'." Prosecutor [General] Anne Thily, of the eastern city of Liege, said: "It will affect the inquiry." Van der Biest was arrested in 1996 and charged in connection with the Cools' murder. He was detained from September 1996 to January 1997, and again for three days in December, 2001. Three years ago, a Tunisian court sentenced two Tunisians to 25-years jail terms for the shooting. However, it has never been established who ordered the killing. Van der Biest was among nine suspects expected to stand trial in the Cools case later this year.cnn.com