37 years ago, Philippe de Dieuleveult, famous animator of The Treasure Hunt, died in Zaire. His nephew has just filed a complaint for ‘new charges’. What can reopen the investigation?
It was 37 years ago, more precisely on August 6, 1985. The animator of the cult game, The treasure hunt, a family television game that the French loved, died with six friends in Zaire. All had done a raft descent of the Inga rapids, which unfortunately cost them their lives. The investigation which had been opened following the accident had been quickly closed, concluded by the reason for drowning. In 1995, Jean de Dieuleveult, brother of Philippe, filed a complaint for homicide. This was closed in 2004 for lack of evidence.
Despite these completed investigations, the relatives of the host have never been able to stop there, thinking of more than just drowning. They have been asking themselves a lot of questions for 37 years, convinced that Philippe de Dieuleveult, like his six friends who were also present during this terrible raft descent, did not die by accident, as others have happened, in particular that of the death of Gaspard Ulliel or that of Michael Schumacher, whose state of health was recently revealed.
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The nephew of Philippe de Dieuleveult has just filed a complaint
If the family of Philippe de Dieuleveult does not believe in a simple accident, it is because at the time of the tragedy, i.e. in 1985, there were strong geopolitical tensions between Zaire and Angola. Which leads them to think that the host and his friends could have been confused with an enemy commando and, thus, that France could have covered this blunder of the Zairian army of Mobutu. Doubts and questions that have haunted them for 37 years, which they have not decided to put under the carpet in view of their seriousness.
It was therefore the son of Jean de Dieuleveult, Alexis, who took over in this affair by going lodge a complaint for “new charges”. As a result, the host’s nephew asks for the reopening of the judicial inquiry at the Paris prosecutor’s office. So he asks the opening of the archives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces, the hearing of former Minister Roland Dumas and the hearing of the head of the Zairian secret services at the time. The Parisian quoted the De Dieuleveult family petition: “There are still many witnesses that this tragedy has marked and who could shed light on the investigation”. Let’s hope that the truth can be revealed in order to relieve this family, tortured for 37 years.