He had already done so almost six decades before, before retracting. The founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died on January 7, admitted to a journalist in 2019 that he had practiced torture in Algeria, without using the word, according to statements published by the newspaper the World Friday. “I find it completely normal, natural, that we extort information from organized killers,” he explained on December 4, 2019 to the journalist from MondeIvanne Trippenbach. “I do this under the orders of my captain. We take the risks linked to war. he added, during an interview recorded at his home in Rueil-Malmaison.
During this interview, the former finalist in the 2002 presidential election justified not being bothered by such a practice against people “who struck blindly in restaurants, balls, with bombs”. “What was missing was more than that, for them to raise their finger and say: “what about human rights?” Well yes, but you don’t respect human rights, so we’re going to apply your methods to you. The guy has to tell you where the bombs are, he’s the one who will set the duration of his ordeal. We don’t do this for fun. If he speaks, his misfortune stops.” he had said.
The former soldier of the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (REP) of the Foreign Legion admitted in November 1962 in the newspaper Combat to have “tortured because it had to be done” in Algiers in 1957, before publishing a denial, and over the years contesting having engaged in such practices. Accusations of torture supported by various investigations, and “about fifteen” of testimonies collected from 1957 to 2002, according to the historian Fabrice Riceputi, author in January 2024 of the book Le Pen and torture.
“Torture and summary executions were very numerous”
Following the death of the founder of the FN, historian Benjamin Stora reaffirmed during an interview on January 8 on France Info that it was possible that Jean-Marie Le Pen had tortured during the Battle of Algiers, citing the testimonies collected by the journalist from MondeFlorence Beaugé, in 2002, while emphasizing that Jean-Marie Le Pen “was only one of those who carried out the battle of Algiers”. “He is not a decision-maker, a political decision-maker of the battle of Algiers, it is other decision-makers who are important in my eyes and who remain important. It was those who were in power, Robert Lacoste and François Mitterrand in particular, who were from the socialist left. […] François Mitterrand was Keeper of the Seals […] at the time of the battle of Algiers […] when torture and summary executions were very numerous», estimated Benjamin Stora.
Interview with Fabrice Riceputi
Jean-Marie Le Pen died this Tuesday, January 7, at the age of 96, and must be buried this Saturday in La Trinité-sur-Mer (Morbihan). The funeral started at the beginning of the afternoon, in the presence of Marine Le Pen and a few relatives. Numerous police forces were deployed in the town of around 1,800 inhabitants. Around a hundred of them, including a squadron of mobile gendarmes, were mobilized to avoid any overflow.
