Paul Aussaresses [REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE]

Type of liability
Personne physique

Alleged perpetrator(s)
Paul AUSSARESSES

Nationality of alleged perpetrator(s)
French

Legal classification of crime(s)
Crimes against humanity

Source of the complaint
NGO
Victims

Ongoing proceedings
non

Regime
4 - 113 CP

Summary of facts

Paul Aussaresse, former coordinator of the French intelligence services in Algiers, published a book in which he describes the acts of torture and summary executions committed in Algeria from 1955 onwards, and claims that they were justified.

Amnesty International France recalls that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law.

Legal proceedings

May 7, 2001: FIDH files a complaint for “crimes against humanity.” 
May 17, 2001: The Paris public prosecutor rejects the complaint: the acts in question would rather constitute “war crimes” – which were then time-barred and covered by amnesty (Law of July 1968) – and the charge of “crimes against humanity” would not be applicable, as only crimes committed during the Second World War could be prosecuted (with regard to the offense as defined in 1994). 
May 9, 2001: MRAP files a complaint with civil party application for “crimes against humanity.” 
May 16, 2001: Josette Audin, widow of a teacher who disappeared in Algiers on June 21, 1955, files a complaint for “crimes against humanity” and “unlawful confinement.” 
May 30, 2001: FIDH files a complaint with civil party application for “crimes against humanity.” 
June 22, 2001: MRAP and Louisette Ihilahriz, tortured in 1957, file a complaint with civil party application. 
September 11, 2001: The investigating judge issues an order refusing to open a judicial investigation on the grounds that the prosecuted acts are time-barred, relying on the Law of July 31, 1968 granting amnesty. 
September 14, 2001: FIDH appeals. 
April 12, 2002: The Paris Court of Appeal upholds the investigating judge’s decision, finding that the amnesty law applies to the alleged acts. 
October 1, 2002: FIDH files an appeal to the Court of Cassation. 
June 17, 2003: The Court of Cassation dismisses the appeal. The Court emphasizes that, at the time of the events, the acts committed could not constitute crimes against humanity because this crime was not included in the French Penal Code, and that international custom “cannot compensate for the absence of a statutory provision” criminalizing it. As they could not be classified as crimes against humanity due to the non-retroactivity of criminal law, the acts of torture fall within the scope of the crimes amnestied by France in 1968.