Human rights watchdog urges for suing France over nuclear tests

President of the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and the Protection of Human Rights called on the government to fill a lawsuit against France to compensate Algerians victim of nuclear tests.

• “Algeria has all the sovereignty to bring an action to the International Criminal Court to pay damages to the victims,” Rafik Ksentini told Echorouk on Saturday.
• French defence minister is preparing a law to compensate those suffering from illnesses among the 150,000 army and civilians who worked on the tests in the area of Reggane in the Algerian desert.
• “It is unbelievable to compensate French victims only,” said Ksentini.
• President of the Algerian League of Human Rights Boudjemaa Ghechir said it was too-early to open a debate on suing France over its crimes in Reggane.
• “We should wait for the adoption of the French law to see if it will actually exclude Algerian victims from compensation,” he told Echorouk.
• Mustapha Bouchachi, president of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights says the lawsuit can be filled by the Algerian State on behalf of the 70,000 Algerian victims.
• He also said it was a pity that the victims did not stand in a unified line. “That may be due to the isolated geographical aspect of Reggane.”
• “Yet, this issue can not be properly treated only after opening the file of France’s crimes in Algeria,” he added.