France honors its executioners and disavows the victims of nuclear crimes among Algerians!

Once again, the French authorities confirm their hypocrisy and the falsity of their claims in their dealings with Algeria, by honoring the soldiers and officials who participated in the nuclear explosions in the Algerian Sahara by awarding them medals and decorations, while continuing, in contrast, to refuse to compensate Algerian victims and clean up contaminated sites.

In this context, a response from the French Ministry of Veterans and Memory, dated September 16, 2025, reviewed by “Echorouk,” stated that the National Recognition Medal (TRN), established in 1967, is subject to strict conditions, the most important of which is that its award be limited to participants in specific military operations or conflicts, noting that military personnel and civilians who participated in nuclear tests in Algeria before July 1, 1964, can benefit from it, as their presence coincided with the period of operations in Algeria.

The same document clarified that presence after this date, within the framework of the Evian Accords, was not linked to military action, and therefore does not grant the right to the medal. The same applies to participants in Polynesian tests who were not present in the context of a conflict or combat operation.

The French government indicated in its response that the authorities have nevertheless paid special attention to this category since 2021, by approving the award of the National Defense Medal with the “Nuclear Tests” badge to all military personnel and civilians who actually participated in these missions, during the periods and in the areas specified by the 2010 law concerning victims.

It explained that this medal represents an expression of the nation’s recognition of their contribution to “building the nuclear deterrent force,” highlighting that nearly four thousand people have benefited from it since its adoption.

This French response came as an answer to a written question posed to the Minister of Memory and Veterans by French MP Corentin Le Fur, from the “Republican Right” party in the third constituency of Côtes-d’Armor, in which he drew attention to the situation of French military personnel and civilians who participated in more than 210 nuclear tests conducted by France between 1960 and 1996, including 17 tests in Reggane and In Ekker in the Algerian Sahara, and 193 tests in French Polynesia.

The MP explained that these operations, which he considered crucial in building nuclear deterrence, required the participation of thousands of military personnel and civilians, noting that the law issued on January 5, 2010, only allowed for an initial framework for compensation and recognition of victims, but it remains, according to French associations such as the National Association of Holders of the National Recognition Medal, insufficient, especially for categories that directly participated in those tests, demanding that the government study the possibility of creating a special medal or a new national title to honor them.

While Paris considers this medal an “expression of gratitude,” the Algerian victims continue to be ignored, still facing the consequences of nuclear explosions, including cancerous diseases, genetic deformities, and chronic environmental pollution.

Moreover, official France, which has set complex and impossible conditions that prevented most Algerians from benefiting from the compensation law issued in 2010, still refuses to respond to Algeria’s repeated demands regarding the cleanup of test sites from nuclear and chemical waste, making Reggane, In Ekker, Oued Namous, and other sites living witnesses to one of the most horrific colonial crimes that has not yet been erased from collective memory.