French political figure Roland Dumas, who served in François Mitterrand’s government, dies at 101

Roland Dumas, a French political figure who was a close ally of former president François Mitterrand and served in his government in the 1980s and 1990s, mainly as his top diplomat, has died, his family confirmed to AFP and other French media on Wednesday. He was 101.

Issued on: 03/07/2024 – 16:36

3 min

Dumas, a Socialist, was France’s foreign minister between 1984 and 1986, and then a second time between 1988 and 1993.

After his time in government, Dumas went on to preside France’s Constitutional Council, between 1995 and 1999.

“He was a character from a novel. As a lawyer, he was talent and modesty personified. When you met him, you learnt something,” fellow lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi told AFP.

Dumas was the son of a French Resistance hero who was killed by the Gestapo during World War II. Jacques Attali, a former aide to Mitterrand, recounted that even “after seeing his father shot dead by the Nazis, he became a great actor in Franco-German relations.”

Jacques Attali, a former aide to Mitterrand, recounted that even “after seeing his father shot dead by the Nazis, he became a great actor in Franco-German relations”.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti on X saluted a man he described as “a great lawyer then a major politician and finally the president of the Constitutional Council”.

J’apprends avec tristesse le décès de Roland Dumas.

Grand avocat puis homme politique d’envergure et enfin président du Conseil constitutionnel, il a marqué de son empreinte l’histoire de la Vème République.

Je présente à sa famille et à ses proches toutes mes condoléances.

— Eric Dupond-Moretti (@E_DupondM) July 3, 2024

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A love for luxurious gifts and pretty women

In the course of his long and illustrious legal career, Dumas built up a reputation as an eloquent orator, a charming advocate—but also, like his old friend Mitterrand, an inveterate ladies’ man.

“Dumas was a seducer who loved manoeuvres, women and money to the point of impudence,” leading newspaper Le Monde wrote in its obit of the prominent centenarian.

“He also had a subtle intelligence and irresistable social skills, handy to extract himself from the binds where his schemes led him.”

It was his weakness for women that would prove to be his downfall, with a trial against him based on prosecution evidence provided by a former mistress, Christine Deviers-Joncour, that she was paid millions of dollars to influence him.

With the court case pending, Dumas was forced to leave the prestigious post as head of the Constitutional Council in 2000, a move he described as “heartbreaking”.

In 2001, Dumas was sentenced to six months in jail and fined €150,000 for receiving gifts illegally paid for by the former state-owned oil company, Elf, before being acquitted on appeal.

But he failed to escape a conviction for fraudulently benefiting from the sale of works of art by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, receiving a suspended prison sentence of one year and a fine of 150,000 euros.

As executor of the estate of Giacometti’s widow, Dumas was found guilty of colluding with top art auctioneer Jacques Tajan during the sale of 14 sculptures and four paintings in 1994.

Friends with Mitterand

Dumas’s friendship and political affinity with Mitterrand was cemented after World War II and he was a loyal member of the inner circle that Mitterrand brought with him when he was elected president in May 1981.

“I will remember him as a character from a novel whose romantic escapades, as well as some mischief, caused a lot of talk, but who was also a courageous member of the Resistance who showed exceptional loyalty to Mitterrand,” Jean Glavany, head of the Francois Mitterrand institute, told AFP.

Dumas was praised for his part in creating a unified Europe, working closely with his German counterpart Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and as a discreet but efficient defender of French views during the first Gulf War.

Lawyer for Picasso and Gbagbo

A resistance fighter like his father, Dumas was born in Limoges, central France, on August 23, 1922.

He once had his heart set on becoming an opera singer, but following studies that included law, languages, political science and economy—and after a stint in regional journalism—he joined the Paris Bar in 1950.

His clients, other than Mitterrand, included such leading artists as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

In 2011 Dumas raised eyebrows by agreeing to be on the legal team of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested after refusing to stand down after a disputed 2010 presidential election.

And in February 2015, Dumas caused an outcry when he suggested that prime minister Manuel Valls was probably acting under Jewish “influence”.

Dumas had three children and wrote several books on history, the legal profession and literary and artistic property.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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