PARIS — France's top terrorism investigator, who was heavily criticized for freeing an Iranian implicated in bombings that terrorized Paris in 1986, died today after shooting himself in the mouth.

Judge Gilles Boulouque, 40, was eulogized by former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac as a man of great integrity who brought "a very important contribution to the fight against terrorism." Police sources said they found a letter addressed to Boulouque's wife concerning his intended suicide.

Boulouque made his reputation investigating the series of deadly Paris bombings in 1986. He gained notoriety as the man who let an Iranian Embassy employee at the center of the investigation fly home in November, 1987.