Far left leader was ‘spied upon’

France's main Trotskyist party is taking legal action after allegations its spokesman, the postman and presidential hopeful Olivier Besancenot (pictured), was spied upon.

French magazine L'Express reported this week that Besancenot's life was "spied on, dissected and put on file by a private investigation firm."

The newspaper claims it has obtained a copy of the report drawn up on the far-left leader.

Between October 2007 and January this year, detectives allegedly tailed 34-year-old Besancenot and his partner from outside their Paris apartment, photographed them and recorded details of their bank accounts, the magazine said.

Besancenot's party, the Communist Revolutionary League (LCR) said it was filing suit for violation of his privacy.

The party called for full light to be shed on the alleged surveillance operation, which L'Express said could not have been carried out without the help of civil servants with access to French interior ministry files.

A LCR spokesman said: "Neither intimidation, nor harassment in any form, will make the LCR and its spokesman give up their struggle.”

The interior ministry declined to comment on the report.

The articulate and telegenic Besancenot, whose party slogan is "our lives are worth more than their profits", led the pack of six far-left candidates in last year's presidential election, picking up four percent of the vote.

Photo: Guillaume Paumier