lCurrent conflicts bring our consciences back to the horrors of war. During the Algerian War, from 1954 to 1962, crimes were committed under the responsibility of the highest French authorities. Jean-Paul Sartre then wrote: “If nothing protects a nation against itself, nor against its past, nor against its loyalties, nor against its own laws, if fifteen years are enough to turn victims into executioners, it is because only opportunity decides. Depending on the occasion, anyone, at any time, will become a victim or executioner. »
Since 1962, in reason of state (Minuit Editions), the historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet asks the question: “How can we determine the role, in the future State, of the judiciary or the army or the police if we do not first know how the State, as such, behaved in the face of the problems raised by the repression of the Algerians? insurrection, how was he informed by those whose mission was to inform him, how did he react to this information, how did he in turn inform the citizens? »
At that time, as since then, voices were raised to demand that the French State recognize its responsibilities in the use of torture by French law enforcement forces. In 2000, the “Call of the Twelve”, addressed to the President of the Republic, asked to condemn these practices through a public declaration. This demand was reiterated in 2024 by the “March 4 Appeal” of 24 anti-racist, anti-colonial and human rights associations, demanding recognition of the State’s responsibility in Algeria’s use of torture during the war. To take this request further, at this time of 1Ahem November [date du début de la guerre d’Algérie en 1954], 83 citizens make public their support for the “March 4 Appeal.”
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, acknowledged, in September 2018, the murder of Maurice Audin in 1957. [mathématicien communiste] by the French soldiers who detained him. He acknowledged, in March 2021, the murder of lawyer Ali Boumendjel [en 1957] during his detention; and an Elysée press release dated October 18, 2022 stated: “We clearly recognize that, in this war, there are those who, with the government’s mandate to win it at all costs, have placed themselves outside the Republic. This minority of combatants spread terror and perpetrated torture, against and against all the values of a Republic founded on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. »
You have 63.99% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
