French Gen. Paul Aussaresses, wrote of Algeria War torture, dies

PARIS -- French Gen. Paul Aussaresses, whose remorseless admission of executions and torture during the Algerian independence war five decades ago forced France to examine the dark period, has died. He was 95.

Aussaresses, whose death was announced yesterday on the website of a French veteran's association, was convicted and fined in January 2002 for "complicity in justifying war crimes" in connection with his memoir about the seven-year war that ended with Algeria's independence from French rule in 1962.

"I express regrets," Aussaresses said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. "But I cannot express remorse. That implies guilt. I consider I did my difficult duty of a soldier implicated in a difficult mission."

The general was intelligence chief and a top commander during the Battle of Algiers, the brutal 1957 campaign that saw the French army reclaim control of the center of the Algerian capital.

His admission of torture and summary killings "horrified" then-French President Jacques Chirac, according to a statement at the time.

Aussaresses was instantly recognizable by his eye patch -- though he lost sight in one eye due to a botched cataract operation, not combat.

When Aussaresses' book, "Special Services: Algeria 1955-57," was published in 2001 it caused an uproar in France and quickly became a bestseller. He detailed methods of torture used against prisoners under his command -- ranging from blows to electricity to suffocation with water -- and implied that top leaders were aware of the practice.

SEE PHOTOSRecent notable deaths

He shocked Paris and Algiers, coldly calling the torture "efficient" and saying he was only carrying out orders and had a clear conscience.

Chirac's presidency after 2001 was marked by his attempt to atone for wrongs committed against the former colony. He asked that historians quickly access archives, which were made available for the first time in 2001, to uncover the truth.

There had long been suspicions of atrocities during the bloody war that ended 132 years of French rule in Algeria, but the period had been shrouded in secrecy. Only in 1999 did France officially call the combat with Algeria a war. It was previously referred to as an "operation to maintain order."

Aussaresses wrote that Algerian war hero Larbi Ben M'Hidi was among those killed. France has for years contended he committed suicide. Causing equal controversy, he wrote that then-French Justice Minister Francois Mitterrand was informed of the atrocities.

But Gilbert Collard, the lawyer who represented Aussaresses in 2002, said yesterday that no one implicated in the 2001 allegations who was still alive at the time denied the account.

"No one denied it. No one. And there was no investigation . . .," said Collard. "All (Aussaresses) did was to carry out the orders that were given by his leaders. This was war."