Accountability Of Macron Government Because Of recognition Of Assassination Of Martyr Boumendjel

The French far-right is striving to limit the impulse of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to make more “concessions” in favor of Algeria, with regard to the vexed memory file, and this is still cooling Algerian-French relations.

Member of the French National Assembly (the lower chamber of parliament), Representative Emmanuelle Menard, who is the wife of the famous journalist known for his hostility to Algeria, Robert Menard (son of a family of black feet from Oran) addressed a written question to the French Prime Minister, John Castex, against the backdrop of the confession on March 2nd of French President Emmanuel Macron, on the responsibility of the French state in the assassination of the freedom-fighter and lawyer of the National Liberation Front, Ali Boumenjel in 1957.

The written question reads: “The MP asks the Prime Minister about the (French) President’s recognition of the responsibility of the French state in the assassination of Ali Boumendjel”.

The representative of the French National Front added in her question: “On March 2, 2021. The President of the Republic admitted, on behalf of the French state, that the lawyer and leader of the National Liberation Front, Ali Boumendjel, was“ tortured and killed ”by the French colonial army on March 23, 1957.

During this month, Macron took two steps related to memory, the first was to recognize the responsibility of the French state in the assassination of the militant Ali Boumendjel, and after a week he decided to lift the secrecy of the archive, which was more than fifty years old.

However, these two steps did not receive the desired response from the Algerian side.

MP Emmanuelle Menard asked about the documents on which the French president relied in his decision to recognize the responsibility of the French state in the liquidation of the national leader, and wrote: “What documents allowed such a decision to be made? If the decision was based on the only testimony (recognition) of General Aussaresses, then it is clear that this is not enough. This testimony, after forty years of the event, must intersect with documents, testimonies and other archival archives,” she claimed.

The wife of Robert Menard, did not find any way to question the admission of General Paul Aussaresses to liquidate Boumindjel, and thus to discredit the decision of the French President, except to draw attention to what was written by the historian, Pierre Vidal Näcke, in 2002, who said that “the facts described in the book of General Aussaresses, must be read with special care and great attention”.

The deputy also quoted the same historian as saying, “Ali Boumendjel was arrested during the Battle of Algiers, because he armed a (mujahid) of the National Liberation Front, and ordered the assassination of a European couple and their three-year-old child. These victims were found dead in southern Algiers”, according to the MP’s question.

Supporting the hypothesis of skepticism, the author of the oral question added: “Ali Boumendjel may have been tortured and killed by the French colonial army, but so far there is no evidence.

However, if the memories must be reconciled, this can only be done on the basis of concrete evidence. The deputy estimated that in the case of Ali Boumendjel, “there is no concrete evidence,” as she claimed.

The MP went on to comment on Macron’s decisions: “On March 9, 2021, the President of the Republic announced that access to the secret archive, which is over 50 years old, will be facilitated. It is a good thing”, as she put it.

She also wondered whether the archive relating to the assassination of the martyr, Ali Boumendjel, would be made public as soon as possible.