Algerian War: France recognizes the torture and assassination of activist Ali Boumendjel
Malika Boumendjel, widow of Algerian lawyer Ali Boumendjel (photo), speaks on May 5, 2001 on the conditions of the death of her husband, which occurred on March 23, 1957. AFP - ERIC FEFERBERG
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Emmanuel Macron admitted on Tuesday that the lawyer and nationalist leader Ali Boumendjel was "tortured and murdered" by the French army during the Algerian war in 1957.
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Sixty-four years after the death of political activist Ali Boumendjel, President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged France's responsibility on Tuesday.
His murder had at the time been disguised as suicide.
Last month, Ali Boumendjel's niece, Fadela Boumendjel-Chitour, denounced a "state
lie that was devastating
".
"
At the heart of the Battle of Algiers, he was arrested by the French army, placed in solitary confinement, tortured, then assassinated on March 23, 1957
",
details the Elysee in a press release
.
In 2000, Paul Aussaresses, former head of intelligence in Algiers, "
himself confessed to having ordered one of his subordinates to kill him and disguise the crime as suicide
."
Appeasement
This recognition, which the French president himself announced to Ali Boumendjel's grandchildren when he received them on Tuesday, is part of the appeasement gestures recommended by the historian Benjamin Stora in his report on colonization and the war of Algeria, in order to resolve the tensions between the two countries around the memory of this conflict.
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To read also: "Algeria and France need each other"
Recognized specialist in the contemporary history of Algeria, Benjamin Stora was commissioned in July by Emmanuel Macron to "
draw up a fair and precise inventory of the progress made in France on the memory of colonization and the Algerian war.
".
Its report, submitted on January 20, aroused strong criticism, both in Algeria and in France, in particular for
not having advocated an "apology"
from Paris for the crimes of the colonial period (1830-1962).
"Know the truth"
To the grandchildren of Ali Boumendjel, Emmanuel Macron also said "
his desire to continue the work undertaken for several years to collect testimonies to encourage the work of historians by opening the archives, in order to give all the families of the missing , on both sides of the Mediterranean, the means to know the truth
”.
This gesture "
is not an isolated act
", promises the president in this press release.
"
No crime, no atrocity committed by anyone during the Algerian War can be excused or concealed
".
"
This work will be extended and deepened over the coming months, so that we can move forward towards appeasement and reconciliation
", concludes the
press
release, which pleads for "to
look history in the face, to recognize the truth of the facts
" for "
reconciliation of memories
”.
(
With
AFP)
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