France opens probe into monks' murder in Algeria

Reuters ^ | 02/10/2004 | Reuters

[thierrya]

France opens probe into monks' murder in Algeria

PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - French prosecutors on Tuesday opened a probe into the abduction and murder of seven French Monks in Algeria in 1996, a crime that has become a thorny issue for France and the north African state.

Algeria has blamed the militant Armed Islamic Group (GIA). But one witness in widely-publicised comments said the monks fell into the hands of militants after a plot by Algerian secret services went wrong.

"This procedure must not have the aim of confirming the official version, which is neither satisfactory nor credible," said Patrick Baudoin, lawyer of relatives of the monks, who launched legal proceedings in December.

The seven Trappist monks were kidnapped in March 1996 from their remote, hilltop monastery in Tibehirine, near Medea, an Islamist stronghold some 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Algiers.

The monks, of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, were held by their captors for around two months, then beheaded.

The GIA, which began a bloody campaign in 1992 to transform secular Algeria into an Islamic republic and resented France for backing the Algerian government, said at the time it killed the monks after Paris refused to negotiate a prisoner release.

But rumours over who was guilty quickly spread and were fuelled in December 2002 by a report based on the unconfirmed confessions of a jailed former Algerian secret service agent.

He said the kidnappers were acting on the orders of Algerian secret services. The aim was to stage an abduction of the monks -- whose insistence on remaining in a region of fighting between government and rebel forces annoyed the army -- and then have authorities appear to successfully negotiate their release.

The plot failed when genuine Islamist guerrillas abducted the monks and killed them, according to the agent's confessions, reported in French daily Liberation.

Prosecutors said the probe has been launched for possible charges of "criminal association, kidnapping, sequestration and assassination", all in "relation with a terrorist organisation".

The French government has been cautious in its comments on the affair. On a trip to Algeria in March last year, President Jacques Chirac said the theory of an implication of Algerian secret services had "no legal credibility for the moment".

[xJones]

On a trip to Algeria in March last year, President Jacques Chirac said the theory of an implication of Algerian secret services had "no legal credibility for the moment".

It's no wonder Chirac liked Clinton.

[MarMema]

Are these yours? Memory Eternal!

[NYer]

Are these yours?

Yes! These are the Trappists, who are known for their jams, jellies and baked goods.

In 1098 a small group of monks from the French Abbey of Molesme, seeking to live a life in stricter conformity to the Rule of St. Benedict, founded a monastery which they simply called Novum Monasterium (New Monastery). Located in a densely wooded area in Burgundy, conditions were harsh and prospects bleak, but in a phenomenal expansion that defies rational explanation this new order of monks, who were to become famous as the white monks and whose official name became Cistercian, laid claim to nearly 350 abbeys by 1150. A century later the total had grown to 647 abbeys stretching from Ireland and Scotland to Poland, and from northern Norway to Sicily, with well over 20,000 monks on the rolls. Over the years laxity in observance of the Rule crept in, and success in creating wealth led to autocratic exploitation. Later ravages brought about by the Protestant Reformation and national revolutions decimated the order and in the early l9th century it was hard pressed to stave off extinction. Because of the continuing specter of further persecution foundations were sent to the New World. Two such foundations were made in the United States, both of which could trace their origins to the Abbey of Our Lady of La Trappe in France, from which the name Trappist is derived. La Trappe was the site of a 17th-century reform movement through which much of the order came to live under a more strictly penitential interpretation of St. Benedict's Rule.

Our Lady of La Trappe Abbey

[livius]

Mejor tarde que nunca.

[AnAmericanMother]

Hi, my Latin tells me that's "better late than never"?

(I agree. Hope they find those responsible and make them pay.)

How ya doing? My poor mare's lame again (kicked in the pasture because some boneheaded stablehand turned the wrong horse out with her, but not in a joint, thank heavens.) But I'm riding a four-year-old T'bred- Hannoverian cross that belongs to my trainer - still has occasional filly-sillies (like having a bucking fit in the middle of a 20 meter canter circle in a dressage test!!!) but by and large a Nice Mare.

[livius]

You win the tranlsation prize for the day (whatever it is!).

Poor old Doc isn't doing very well, and I feel like we're having a death watch here. Basically, I just go out to give him treats, let him graze, and hang out with him for a bit. The crucial thing is how long his "good" leg lasts, and once he can't support himself, there's really nothing more we can do. Very depressing. He's such a little sweetie (totally obnoxious and still full of attitude, of course).

Poor Gracie! Your new mount sounds like fun, sort of - but keep that helmet on. I have my eye on a strange little pony at the farm. He's about five years old and black with a slighty crazed look, completely undertrained, but very snappy. He may be a Canadian, judging from his looks, but there are no papers on him.

But we'll see what happens.

And going back to the topic, yes, I hope the French nail them, too. It's odd that they are reopening this now, after all these years.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Has anyone moved to build a Church in honor of the Cistercian martyrs?

The way things are going, Western Christians better get ready.

Which brings to mind...there were...uh...ahem...quite a few Catholics murdered by Islamic wack jobs on 9/11. Has anyone in the Archdiocese of New York started a memorial shrine for the Catholics?

[AnAmericanMother]

Poor Doc. That's the trouble with having animals next to our hearts - they just don't live as long as we do.

I can see Gracie losing a little step, ever so gradually (I really noticed it when we were out hunting for 3 hours) but I've decided that I'm going to keep her well nourished and carefully vetted, and enjoy our time together without worrying (too much) about the future. :-(

We will remind St. Martin of Tours to look after Doc . . .

[AnAmericanMother]

. . . oh, and I NEVER ride without my helmet. I have an old one with a hoofprint in the top that I keep around to remind me . . . as well as a high school classmate that very nearly died and has permanent brain damage from acting silly on her horse without a helmet.

[livius]

Do keep after St. Martin!!!