Macron Acknowledges: French Soldiers Killed Algerian Leader Larbi Ben M’Hidi

French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged on Friday that French soldiers killed Larbi Ben M’Hidi, a leader of the National Liberation Front, which led the Algerian War of Independence, during the 70th anniversary of the start of Algeria’s liberation revolution.

The Élysée Palace announced in a statement that the President of the Republic “today recognizes that Larbi Ben M’Hidi, a national hero of Algeria and one of the six leaders of the National Liberation Front who launched the November 1, 1954 revolution, was killed by French soldiers under the command of General Paul Aussaresses,” according to AFP.

On September 13, 2018, Emmanuel Macron made a significant acknowledgment “for historical truth,” regarding the abduction and killing of French leftist activist Maurice Audin, who supported Algeria’s independence in 1957, under torture.

On March 3, 2021, Macron acknowledged the responsibility of the colonial French army for the torture and killing of Algerian lawyer and activist Ali Boumendjel in 1957, while the prevailing French narrative for decades had been that Boumendjel “died after jumping from a high floor,” while being interrogated by French police in the capital.