On the 5th of August, the highest French governement authorities gathered in Amboise, in the Loire Valley, for the burial of former Prime Minister Michel Debre (Debré with a final accent).
A staunch follower of de Gaulle, Michel Debre, as a member of Parliament during the Fourth Republic (1946-1958) was known for his savage attacks against governemental policies. He thus earned the nickname of <Michou la colere> (Angry Mickey). He took part in obscure conspiracies which resulted in the political return of General de Gaulle in 1958 after a half-hearted coup in Algiers. He took a leading role in drafting the authoritarian and anti-democratic Constitution of the Fifth Republic. As a result he was picked up by de Gaulle as its first Prime Minister.
Known as an adept of "French Algeria", he was in charge of making war againsy the Algerian nationalist movement known as the FLN. This war had been started by the French socialist governement in 1954, with Mitterrand as Home Minister, in order to smash the nascent anticolonial movement. As Prime Minister, Michel Debre took responsability for the terrorist operations of the French Army. These mopping up operation were codenamed "Maintaining the Order". Villages were burned to the ground, local farming populations were deported and put into concentrations camps. Women were raped, burned and killed. Men were arrested and tortured. A flow of protest emerged in France itself and the government replied by censoring newspapers and banning a lot of books. In the United Nations, France was systematically condemned and got support only from Apartheid South Africa and Israel.
The enormous, repetitive, massive crimes against humanity (against unarmed civilians) and war crimes committed by French repression forces were ordered or covered by Michel Debre in his capacity as Prime Minister. His direct responsability was involved.
After de Gaulle decided his only way out was to negotiate independence with the Algerian nationalists, Debre, who had opposed such a move, was sacked by his mentor.
Just after infependance, on the 5 of July 1962, French Parliament passed a convenient law which decreed a blanket amnesty for whatever crimes had been committed "in liaison with events in Algeria". Other amnesty laws were passed later. It has then become impossible and even illegal to publish anything in France in relation with individual and political responsabilities for these crimes. When mass graves are discovered by chance in Algeria, the French authorities and press bury the news as quickly as possible and ascribe them to "Algerian maneuvers".
After this amnesty was voted, French Justice decided that crimes against humanity could not be prescribed. (In normal French law, a crime cannot be tried after a delay of 30 years.) But strangely enough, this was concerning only crimes committed during WW2. The colonial atrocities committed by the French Army in Madagascar, in Indochina and in Algeria went conveniently forgotten.
Michel Debre, responsible for the killing and maiming of several tens of thousands of people, or more, has died peacefully, honored by the highest authorities as "a perfect servant of the State".
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ARTICLE 19
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Déclaration internationale des droits de l'homme,
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