Email Message from Michael regarding the 1996 Assingnations of 7Atlas Monks
Donald,
I have just seen on France 24 TV that President Sarkozy is releasing documents on the monks killed in Algeria.
It seems that the monks were killed by the Algerian army who were attacking rebels in the building. They didn’t realise the monks were there and covered it up so that no one would see the bodies riddled with e bullets.
Best wishes,
Michael
Google Story SARKOZY
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4vGe3R2xzEQdBKwZtzLn4m5omHg
Sarkozy wants 'truth' on French monk massacre in Algeria
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4vGe3R2xzEQdBKwZtzLn4m5omHg
Sarkozy wants 'truth' on French monk massacre in Algeria
1 day ago
PARIS (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday 7 July2009, he was determined to find out who was really behind the 1996 abduction and beheading of seven French monks in Algeria, which has been blamed on Islamists.
"I want the truth. Relations between major countries are based on the truth and not on lies," he said, adding that he would release any classified documents on the killings which investigators might ask for.
The move came a day after potentially explosive allegations that the Algerian army killed the monks by mistake when it raided an Islamist camp and that the French state covered up the blunder to protect bilateral relations.
Critics have long been suspicious of the official Algerian and French versions that the Trappist monks were killed by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) at the height of a decade of violence that left more than 150,000 people dead.
The Algerian government has repeatedly been accused of exploiting extremist violence -- and even staging gruesome attacks and blaming them on extremists -- during the conflict to try to turn the population against the Islamists.
It denies such accusations.
The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry in 2004 into the massacre of the monks after a civil suit was filed by the family of one of the men and by a senior member of the monks' order.
Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday the latest allegations were proof there was an attempt at "a cover-up on the part of the Algerian authorities and certainly on the part of the French authorities".
His comment came after a source close to the probe leaked remarks allegedly made to French investigators last month by General Francois Buchwalter, who in 1996 was France's military attache in Algiers.
The now-retired general said Algerian army helicopters, hunting Islamist rebels, opened fire on a camp they spotted in the mountains near the monks' hilltop monastery in Tibehirine, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Algiers.
The helicopter crews realised afterwards that not only had they hit members of the armed group but also the monks, Buchwalter said, according to the source.
Buchwalter said he had been told of the incident by an Algerian soldier whose brother had participated in the helicopter attack.
The monk's heads -- but not their bodies -- were found by security forces two months after they were kidnapped in March 1996.
Buchwalter told investigators that the bodies were riddled with bullets, said the source, adding that the question was now being asked if the bodies were dismembered to avoid the bullets being identified as army munitions.
The general informed the French military chief of staff and the French ambassador but his reports were never followed up and he was told to remain silent to avoid damaging Franco-Algerian relations, the source said.
Herve de Charette, French foreign minister at the time of the events, said Tuesday he did not doubt that Buchwalter had transmitted such a report to the French defence ministry.
But he added that "during this period there were many interpretations" of what had really happened.
Baudouin said Monday he would ask to see Buchwalter's reports and for Charette and French intelligence agents involved in the affair to be questioned.
French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Buchwalter's statement brought a significant "new element" to the case and promised "everything will be done to discover the perpetrators and the conditions of these killings".
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, re-elected in April for a third mandate, began a policy of national reconciliation in 1999 after more than a decade of Islamist violence.
Thousands of hardline Islamists have since handed themselves in and Bouteflika hinted during his election campaign at a possible referendum aimed at granting a general amnesty for those who give up their arms.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
PARIS (AFP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday 7 July2009, he was determined to find out who was really behind the 1996 abduction and beheading of seven French monks in Algeria, which has been blamed on Islamists.
"I want the truth. Relations between major countries are based on the truth and not on lies," he said, adding that he would release any classified documents on the killings which investigators might ask for.
The move came a day after potentially explosive allegations that the Algerian army killed the monks by mistake when it raided an Islamist camp and that the French state covered up the blunder to protect bilateral relations.
Critics have long been suspicious of the official Algerian and French versions that the Trappist monks were killed by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) at the height of a decade of violence that left more than 150,000 people dead.
The Algerian government has repeatedly been accused of exploiting extremist violence -- and even staging gruesome attacks and blaming them on extremists -- during the conflict to try to turn the population against the Islamists.
It denies such accusations.
The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry in 2004 into the massacre of the monks after a civil suit was filed by the family of one of the men and by a senior member of the monks' order.
Patrick Baudouin, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Monday the latest allegations were proof there was an attempt at "a cover-up on the part of the Algerian authorities and certainly on the part of the French authorities".
His comment came after a source close to the probe leaked remarks allegedly made to French investigators last month by General Francois Buchwalter, who in 1996 was France's military attache in Algiers.
The now-retired general said Algerian army helicopters, hunting Islamist rebels, opened fire on a camp they spotted in the mountains near the monks' hilltop monastery in Tibehirine, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Algiers.
The helicopter crews realised afterwards that not only had they hit members of the armed group but also the monks, Buchwalter said, according to the source.
Buchwalter said he had been told of the incident by an Algerian soldier whose brother had participated in the helicopter attack.
The monk's heads -- but not their bodies -- were found by security forces two months after they were kidnapped in March 1996.
Buchwalter told investigators that the bodies were riddled with bullets, said the source, adding that the question was now being asked if the bodies were dismembered to avoid the bullets being identified as army munitions.
The general informed the French military chief of staff and the French ambassador but his reports were never followed up and he was told to remain silent to avoid damaging Franco-Algerian relations, the source said.
Herve de Charette, French foreign minister at the time of the events, said Tuesday he did not doubt that Buchwalter had transmitted such a report to the French defence ministry.
But he added that "during this period there were many interpretations" of what had really happened.
Baudouin said Monday he would ask to see Buchwalter's reports and for Charette and French intelligence agents involved in the affair to be questioned.
French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Buchwalter's statement brought a significant "new element" to the case and promised "everything will be done to discover the perpetrators and the conditions of these killings".
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, re-elected in April for a third mandate, began a policy of national reconciliation in 1999 after more than a decade of Islamist violence.
Thousands of hardline Islamists have since handed themselves in and Bouteflika hinted during his election campaign at a possible referendum aimed at granting a general amnesty for those who give up their arms.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
See Blog: abbey-roads.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Trappist Martyrs of Atlas
Were they really martyrs or victims of friendly fire?
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One reason martyrs are not immediately canonized is that the Church must be convinced they had been killed for the faith. The Martyrs of Atlas, 7 French monks, were killed about 10 years ago in Algiers, presumed to have been executed by Islamic extremists, the only remains found being their heads:
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"During the night of March 27-28, 1996, seven monks of the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas, near the village of Tibhirine in Algeria, were abducted by Islamic fundamentalists. Their abduction was claimed by a radical faction of the GIA (Groupe Islamique Army) in a communique dated April 18, 1996 and published on April 27. In a second communique, dated May 23, the GIA announced that the monks had been executed on May 21, 1996. Their remains were identified and their funeral Mass was celebrated in the Catholic Cathedral of Algiers on Sunday, June 2. They were buried in the cemetery of their monastery at Tibhirine on June 4, 1996." - Source Trappist ocso.org
2 comments:
friendly fire???????????friendly????
PRESS RELEASE
Paris, March 23, 2009
- Criminal Court Referral -
Jean-Baptiste Rivoire Indicted for
Premeditated Voluntary Violence
Five years after the death of grand reporter Didier Contant, on February 5, the Parisian judge, Patrick Ramaël, who has been investigating into the circumstances of his death, ordered the indictment of journalist Jean-Baptiste RIVOIRE before the Correctional Court of Paris for premeditated voluntary violence.
This quarrel between journalists have thus far not attracted the attention it deserves; yet this strange case goes far beyond a mere professional rivalry:
Rivoire and Contant were both investigating into the the death in 1996 of the Monks of Tibhirine.
In January 2004, Didier Contant, who had published a first article in Le Figaro Magazine, was preparing to publish a new article that would have totally contradicted the thesis of Rivoire.
During his last investigation, the reporter had found new witnesses stating that the monks had been killed by the GIA, and he had gathered evidence casting doubts on the credibility of Abdelkader Tigha. However, the investigation of Rivoire relied heavily on the statements of the latter, a sub-officer deserter from the Algerian army, who accused the army of being responsible for the murder of the Tibhirine monks.
The revelations of Tigha have been widely exploited by a number of people with keen interest in the situation in Algeria and who have been accusing the Algerian government for several years without qualification of manipulating Islamist terrorism.
With the intention of preventing any further publication by his colleague, Jean-Baptiste Rivoire contacted several Parisian editorial offices invoking reliable sources to accuse Didier Contant of being an Algerian and French secret service agent.
Several journalists heard by the judge Ramaël confirmed having witnessed Rivoire’s accusations, as well as the serious nature of such a foil, which inevitably condemns the targeted person to a total loss of credibility and to his professional death...
Didier Contant not bear to be slandered and attacked in his professional integrity in this way.
Four years ago, Rina Sherman, Contant’s companion, filed a criminal suit. She has since published her own investigation in a book entitled "The Eighth Death of Tibhirine"* as well as in a film, "Paris of my exiles."
The inquiry has now fully confirmed the allegations against Jean-Baptiste Rivoire.
A reporter voluntarily sets out to manipulate information, creates a vile calumny, diffuses it in professional circles where no-one bothers to cross-check his information, the victim pays the price… That was the Contant case.
With this referral to the criminal court, one can henceforth refer to the Rivoire case.
- Éditions Tatamis, Paris, 2007
- Lazhari Labter Éditions & Le soir d’Algérie, Alger, 2007
Le huitième mort de Tibhirine will be published in Arab in 2009 by Lazhari Labter Éditions in Algiers.
Paris of My Exiles
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