A French secret agent was shot dead with five bullets to the head and heart in an Alps car park after being linked to a plot to murder a Congolese politician.

Daniel Forestier, 57, who lived in the sleepy region in eastern France, was found dead last Thursday in a remote car park in the small town of Ballaison, near lake Geneva.

He had been shot five times, including in the head and heart, his lawyer Cedric Huissoud said.

Forestier and another former agent were charged last September with 'criminal conspiracy' and 'possession of explosives' in connection with a plot to murder General Ferdinand Mbaou, who has lived in exile in France for some 20 years.

Daniel Forestier, 57, is pictured on the Lucinges town hall's website where he served as a local councillor and also used to run a bar - his lawyer said he led a quiet, clean life

General Ferdinand Mbaou, 62, has lived in exile in France for the last 20 years and is an outspoken critic of the government in the Republic of Congo - he still has a bullet lodged in his torso from an attempt on his life in Paris in 2015

The remote car park in the small town of Ballaison is cordoned off after Daniel Forestier was found dead last Thursday

Forestier is believed to have worked for 14 years for the DGSE - the French equivalent of the CIA or MI6.

'It's hard to believe that this murder bore no connection with his implication in the Mbaou affair,' a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity.

News of the death surprised locals in the village of Lucinges, about 12 miles to the south of Ballaison, where Forestier, a father-of-two, had served on the local council.

In an interview with the regional Dauphine Libere newspaper, Mayor Jean-Luc Soulat said he felt 'a lot of sadness and shock'.

While Forestier's spy past was no secret - he had used his own money to publish a semi-autobiographical novel entitled 'Barbouze de la Republique' ('Spy for the Republic') - Soulat said he had thrown himself into village life on arriving in Lucinges in 2002.

Forestier first ran a local bar named 'Escapade' and later served four years on the local council.

The crime scene at the remote car park in Ballaison, around 12 miles from where Forestier lived in Lucinges

His lawyer said he 'led a clean-living, peaceful life' and had never had any brushes with the law before being charged in the plot to murder Mbaou.

'My client always rejected these incredible allegations, which were based on an account from a single anonymous source,' Huissoud said.

'This affair was bizarre from the start,' Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, the lawyer of Forestier's co-accused Bruno Susini, adding that the two ex-spies had been 'very worried about their safety' after some of their personal details - including pictures of Forestier's home - had been shared on social media.

The probe into Forestier's killing is being led by the same anti-gang crime squad in the city of Lyon which was investigating him over the plot against Mbaou.

Reacting to Forestier's murder, Mbaou said he was 'saddened.'

'I hope that his death does not prevent justice being served, but I'm confident,' the general added, referring to the alleged plot to kill him, 'He (Forestier) was not acting alone. There are other suspects.'

In October, Mbaou said he was angry at the reported plot, but 'not surprised'.

The 62-year-old general is known for his outspoken attacks on President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has ruled the former French colony and oil-rich Republic of Congo for some 35 years.

Mbaou fled Congo after his former boss, the country's first democratically-elected president Pascal Lissouba, was overthrown by Sassou Nguesso in 1997.

Forestier was discovered with five bullets in his head and heart in the car park (pictured)

The sleepy town of Ballaison in the French Alps close to Lake Geneva where Daniel Forestier, 57, was found dead last Thursday with five bullets to his head and heart

He had already survived an attempt on his life. Mbaou believes it was the regime that sent hitmen to shoot him in the back as he was leaving his home in Bessancourt north of Paris in November 2015.

He still has the bullet lodged in his torso.

'The doctors couldn't remove it because it is in a tricky spot, close to the heart,' he said.

No one was ever charged over the attack.