General faces Algeria war verdict

Aussaresses: 3,000 disappeared was "not a lot"

PARIS, France -- The verdict is due in the trial of an ageing French general who admitted torturing and killing Algerians during the war of independence.

Paul Aussaresses, 83, wrote a book detailing his role in the death of prisoners during the conflict.

Human rights groups in Paris wanted to prosecute Aussaresses for war crimes, but that was impossible because of a 1968 amnesty relating to the Algerian war.

Instead they have brought an action under a rarely invoked law that makes it a punishable offence to try to justify war crimes.

COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: Algeria Provided by CountryWatch.com

During the trial, which was held last November, Aussaresses, 83, told the court in Paris the killings were carried out "without pleasure."

He also said that for 3,000 prisoners to disappear out of a total of 24,000 detained was "not a lot."

Aussaresses faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a €46,000 ($41,000) fine.

The trial arose following publication of his book, "Special Services, Algeria 1955-57."

He told the court that his superiors knew of the torture and summary executions in Algeria.

"My actions appeared justified," a frail but feisty Aussaresses testified. "I did this work without pleasure, without pleasure."

He said that General Jacques Massu, hero of the bitter 1957 Battle of Algiers, was also aware of the practice.

Book provoked outrage

Aussaresses also recounted for the court an episode in his book describing how he watched as his men stabbed, then hanged Algerian war hero Larbi Ben M'Hidi -- and covered it up as a suicide.

Asked if he regretted having ordered such torture and executions, Aussaresses said, "I have regretted being implicated in the circumstances."

But he said that if he had refused to use all means to eliminate the Algerian fighting force, the National Liberation Front, "all I could have done is say I'm leaving the army."

"It may sound scandalous to say this," Aussaresses testified, "but 3,000 people disappeared" out of 24,000 arrests. "It appears like a lot, but it's not."

The publication of the book, in May 2000, provoked outrage in France and the book became a best-seller.

While it had been widely assumed that atrocities were committed during the war, the former general's lack of remorse shocked the country.

Shortly after the publication of his book, the decorated general was stripped of his army rank, and President Jacques Chirac revoked Aussaresses' Legion of Honour.

The 1954-1962 war ended with Algeria's independence from France after 132 years of colonial rule.

The lawsuit has been filed by France's League of Human Rights and several other human rights groups.

The charge of justifying war crimes carries a four-year maximum penalty, much less than a charge of committing them, but Aussaresses is protected by a 1968 amnesty for Algeria veterans.

French law also limits war crimes convictions to acts committed during World War II or after 1994, the date when the present war crimes statute took effect.