Shortly after midnight, the militants' leader started the negotiations that led to the end of the ordeal at about 2 a.m.[1] He was promised by French authorities that the four militants would receive political asylum. "If we had refused asylum," explained Interior Minister Gaston Defferre, "they would have become desperate men."[2] The next day, however, the French Government issued a statement saying that the men would have to stand trial on charges growing out of the assault, including the death of a Turkish guard.