Tibhirine Monks’ Assassination Affair In The Forefront Anew

Echorouk has learnt from well-informed sources that representatives of the judicial services of the SidiM’hamed criminal court have visited the “Our Lady of Atlas” Monastery near the village of Tibhirine in Médéa province in central Algeria together with forensic experts from the National Gendarmerie as part of renewed investigations into the ins and outs of the still murky assassination there of 7 French Trappist Monks way back in 1996.

All the intricacies surrounding this tragedy have so far not been entirely unraveled due to several untoward factors.

A French examining magistrate accompanied by two DNA and forensic experts will be in Tibhirine shortly as part of a coordination endeavour between Algerian and French Justice whereby the buried heads of the 7 assassinated Cistercian monks will be brought out for close inspection and minute analysis in the hope of discovering potent clues about their tragic death, the same sources added.

As Algeria was in the throes of fierce terrorist violence in the nineties, the 7 monks of Tibhirine were then reportedly advised by the Algerian authorities to leave their monastery for safety reasons. They refused.

Early on 27 March 1996, several members of the GIA terrorist group forced their way into the monastery and abducted seven of the nine monks.

A GIA communiqué claimed responsibility for the monks’ heinous murder on May 21^st and their decapitated heads were found on May 30^thsomewhere in the region.