25-06-2025
Lawsuit to Remove Statue of Criminal Marcel Bigeard in France
The case of the statue of the French war criminal, General Marcel Bigeard, has reached the courts after local authorities in northeastern France insisted on rejecting popular demands to remove the bronze statue erected in his memory.
The statue symbolises the systematic torture of Bigeard during his time as an officer in the French army in colonised Algeria.
On Tuesday, June 24, local associations and anti-torture activists in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, the birthplace of the notorious general, filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court, accompanied by a petition signed by residents of the area. They demanded that local authorities remove the protested memorial, which was considered a 'spit in the face' of torture victims in Algeria, according to the newspaper Mediapart.
This controversial memorial was erected in October 2024, sparking a social and historical debate in the city of Toul, dividing local elected officials between supporters and opponents of the statue. Since then, protests and pressure to remove the statue have continued. However, efforts have reached a dead end, and it was finally decided to resort to the administrative judiciary to decide the case. The lawsuit was filed before the Nancy Administrative Court, demanding the removal of the controversial monument.
The lawsuit asserted that its continued presence would 'disturb public order' and 'disrupt the neutrality of the public service.'
Defenders of General Marcel Bigeard's crimes argue that he was a French resistance fighter who confronted Nazi Germany's occupation in World War II. Opponents, however, argue that he was involved in torture in Algeria during the Algerian Revolution (1954-1962) and even defended those involved in torturing them.
General Bigeard appears in this statue wearing the uniform of a paratrooper, a group that Algerians hold infamous. They waged an unprecedented campaign of repression in Algeria and were implicated in extrajudicial killings and liquidations during the 'Battle of Algiers' at the end of 1956 and 1957. They are responsible for the kidnapping and assassination of the Algerian Revolutionary activist Maurice Audin, the heroic martyr Larbi Ben Mhidi, and the activist Ali Boumendjel. They also tortured the three beautiful women: Djamila Bouhired, Djamila Bouazza, Djamila Boupacha, Zohra Drif, and the freedom fighter Louisa Ighilahriz.
Testimonies from historians and surviving victims revealed that General Bigeard, who died in 2010, participated in field executions on behalf of the French army. He would plunge his victims' feet into concrete before throwing them into the sea from helicopters. Algerians dubbed this dirty technique 'Bigeard's shrimp.' This practice prompted anti-torture activists to create the 'Toul Group,' whose slogan is 'History and Memory with Respect for Human Rights,' in protest against the erection of the statue.
This issue has taken on a dimension beyond France's borders, with a Belgian activist denouncing torture, writing: 'I am extremely angry. How can a general known to historians for his teaching and practice of torture be honoured by France, the nation of human rights? Isn't your nation's motto merely a decoration on the facades of municipal buildings? Aren't 'liberty, equality, fraternity' supposed to represent the fundamental values of your republic? Is this last word also devoid of any moral meaning? No.'
In a contribution to the aforementioned newspaper, he explained: 'Statues of former colonialists can remain in public places, as long as a critical apparatus informs passersby of historical facts and glorifies these figures, which is, at the very least, disputed. But the fact that such a monument—which represents an apology for torture—was erected in 2024 astonishes me! I sincerely hope this mistake is attributed to ignorance; otherwise, I would consider it reprehensible negligence, or even complicity with hateful far-right racists.'
'Let us remember the fate of those poor Algerians who also yearned for freedom, whose feet sank in a concrete pool before being thrown from a helicopter into the Mediterranean, and whose bloated bodies were sometimes found washed up on beaches. These young men, whose lives were so brutally snatched away in this way, were dubbed, with all the inhuman contempt inherent in the colonial spirit, 'Bigeard shrimp,' in honour of the general who instigated these crimes and whom you are honouring today,' he added.
