Marc Trévidic: “The Algerian authorities are scoffing at us”

French counter-terrorism judge, Marc Trévidic, cancels his visit to Algeria, which he expected to conduct on Saturday, to investigate the assassination of the Tibhirine Monks in 1996, as he was forced to cancel the visit because the Algerian authorities did not provide an official invitation.

In an interview with the French radio station “France Inter” earlier this week, Marc Trévedic said he had so far received no formal invitation from the relevant Algerian judicial authorities to visit the province of Guelma where he intends to conduct his own inquiry into the assassination in the area of the seven Tibhirine Trappist Monks way back in 1999.

He said he didn’t understand what he called the “shilly-shallying” policy adopted by the Algerian authorities on this vexed file stressing bluntly that it seemed to him that the Algerian officialdom were scoffing at him through their “prevarication”.

A French media outlet quoted a source, which it described as close to the file, as saying that Judge Marc Trévidic, was forced to rescind once again to visit Algeria because he had not received a formal invitation from the country’s authorities, as this visit was expected to be paid with other experts and judges on Saturday, but the judge had not received a formal invitation from the Algerian authorities. 

French judge Trévidic was ready to visit the crime scene to dig up the seven monks’ graves, who were killed in 1996 by the terrorist group Islamic Armed Group “GIA” which claimed responsibility for their kidnapping, but French parties tried to guide the investigation to the flawed hypothesis of an error that was committed by the Algerian armed troops, as this was adopted by the former Military Attaché at the French Embassy Gen. François Buchwalter.

This prompted the reopening of the file of the assassinated Tibhirine Monks and aggravating the Algerian – French relationships against the backdrop of his statements that accused the Algerian Military Institution of being involved in the killing of the monks, during a gunfire by an Algerian military helicopter, thinking that the place that was targeted belonged to a stronghold of the terrorist groups, a story that officials of the French intelligence and diplomats dubbed as false. 

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Romain Nadal said – in response to questions by reporters about Trévidic’s canceled visit – “The visit by the same French judge last November, was positive, pointing out that the French and Algerian authorities are in close contact to prepare for his next visit.

The French spokesman asserted in an interview with reporters, that Paris adheres to shedding light on the “dramatic” circumstances that led to the assassination of those monks, who he described as “men of peace”.