Death of Philippe de Dieuleveult: his children "indignant" at the request to reopen the investigation

The children of Philippe de Dieuleveult, the host of the program La Chasse au trésor (Antenne 2), who disappeared during an expedition on the Zaire river with six other people in 1985, declared on Wednesday, February 15 in a press release to be “outraged" by their cousin's request to reopen the investigation.

A nephew of the presenter, Alexis de Dieuleveult, transmitted at the beginning of February to the judicial court of Paris a request for a reopening of the judicial information, opened in 1996 and closed by a dismissal in 2004 for insufficient charges. He maintains that his uncle was the victim of a blunder covered up at the time by France.

Erwann, Tugdual and Anaïd de Dieuleveult, the host's three children, indicate in their press release that they are "outraged by the actions" of Alexis, "outraged by the liberties he sometimes grants himself to speak on behalf of Philip's family." He "has been acting for several years against our will and without keeping us informed of his steps," they assured, saying they are "opposed to a reopening of the investigation for personal reasons." “This in no way means that we are not looking for the truth as to what may have happened on August 6, 1985 in Inga in Congo (formerly Zaire),” they specified.

The La Chasse au trésor host and his six companions were found dead in 1985 in Zaire, during an Africa-Raft expedition. Alexis' father, Jean, filed a complaint in February 1995 for intentional homicide and revealed that Philippe de Dieuleveult had belonged to the foreign intelligence service (DGSE). He then accused France of having covered the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, then president of Zaire. “We do not want to publicize this case in any way or go through the courts before having decisive elements, if there are any […]. To date, we do not support any theory, be it drowning or blundering, nor any other more or less eccentric," specify the children of the facilitator. They ask the media show "rigor and professionalism," but also to respect their "wish for tranquility" in the treatment of this affair.