Complaint against X for corpse concealment – Liberation
Families of harkis who died between 1962 and 1965 and buried without burial in The former Rivesaltes campin the Pyrénées-Orientales, filed a complaint against X, in particular for « Reception of corpse », We learned this Thursday, May 22 from their lawyer, Antoine Ory on Thursday, May 22. This complaint for « RIGULTURE VIOLATION accompanied by damage to the integrity of a corpse and the concealment of corpse », of which AFP was able to consult a copy, was deposited at the Perpignan prosecution.
Next to 22,000 harkis (The name given to Algerian auxiliaries of the French army) and members of their families passed through the Joffre camp, in Rivesaltes, near Perpignan, after the independence of Algeria, between 1962 and 1965. At least 146, including 101 children, died on site or at the Perpignan hospital. The bodies of 60 of them, including 52 babies, have never been found. In the fall of 2024, graves were discovered on the perimeter of the camp during excavations claimed by families, but once opened, the burials proved to be empty.
Then the families learned with amazement, on February 21 during a visit by the Minister’s Minister in memory, Patricia Mirales, that the remains were in fact moved in September 1986. The mayor of Rivesaltes, André Bascou, in post since 1983 but who said until then no longer remembered, had then indicated that he had found in the municipal archives the trace of the communal cemetery Saint-Saturnin.
Returned to Rivesaltes On April 28, the minister acknowledged that he was missing « Elements » To understand why these bones have been moved, and the camp cemetery thus scratched from the card, without families receiving any information. The Minister had also detailed the content of four boxes containing thousands of bones found in the communal cemetery of Rivesaltes and which could precisely be those of the Harki cemetery, « Four adults and around fifty children aged 0 to 3 ».
In the complaint addressed to the public prosecutor of Perpignan, the five complainants underline that the offense of concealment of corpse « Is not prescribed » Because the bodies of the deceased have still not been found. The five complainants also put forward in the complaint that the « Provination of burial accompanied by damage to the integrity of a corpse is not more prescribed » because « It was executed without the knowledge of families and immediately hidden ».
