President Macron admits French assassination of Ali Boumendjel in the Algerian war
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged “in the name of France” that Ali Boumendjel, a lawyer and activist for the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération National—FLN), was “tortured and murdered” by French General Jacques Massu’s paratroopers in 1957, during the Algerian war. His execution was made to look like a suicide.
Portrait of Ali Boumendjel [Source: Wikimedia Commons]
Macron’s statement was published on March 2 by the Elysée Palace. The same day, Macron met with Boumendjel’s grandchildren. During the Battle for Algiers, Boumendjel “was arrested by the French army, placed in solitary confinement, tortured and then executed on March 23, 1957,” the statement read.