Xavier Driancourt: “Algeria Submitted A Formal Request To Recover Revolution Martyrs' Skulls”

French ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driancourt, opened the door to a wave of interpretations after the statements that he made about the skulls of the Algerian martyrs at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris during his recent visit to Annaba (eastern Algeria) before retreating them on Monday.

He confirmed two days ago that Algeria did not submit a formal request to restore the skulls of the martyrs, contrary to the statements of Algerian officials, led by the Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, and the Mujahideen (war veterans Minister, Tayeb Zitouni.

However, he soon returned to deny that he made these statements in Annaba asserting that Algeria had not made a formal request to retrieve the skulls of its martyrs, citing identical reports to several media, according to a statement that was issued by the French embassy on Tuesday.

The statement denied the reports of some national newspapers about the skulls of the martyrs, and confirmed that they are “wrong”, and then returned to confirm that the Algerian party through his embassy in Paris handed over a request to the French Foreign Ministry in this regard and that was in December 2017.

According to the same statement, the second stage following this official request is to consider that the skulls of martyrs are not part of the ownership of the French group, and this requires the issuance of a law that is approved by the National Assembly (Lower Chamber of the French Parliament), and the Senate, that would allow the delivery of skulls to Algeria, adding that the draft law is being prepared.