Georges Boudarel

Georges Boudarel (21 December 1926 – 26 December 2003) was a French academic and Communist militant. He was accused of torturing French prisoners for the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War.

Biography

Boudarel studied at a Marist seminary before becoming a History professor in Lycée Marie-Curie of Saïgon in the late 1940s. He lead the Indo-chinese branch of the French Communist Party, called "Groupe culturel marxiste".

During the First Indochina War, Boudarel deserted and joined with the Viet Minh in the North of Tonkin, where he was made a Political commissar in the prisoner camp "Camp 113" at Lang-Kieu, near the Chinese border, South of Ha-Giang. He went by the "nom de guerre" of Dai Dong [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DC173DF933A15750C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all « Paris Journal; Vietnam Echo Stuns France: Case of Treachery? »] , "New York Times", 20 mars 1991.] . Numerous testimonies of survivors of the camp accused Boudarel of torturing French Army prisoners. During the year where he was on duty at the camp, 278 prisoners out of 320 perished.

Boudarel left Viêt Nam in 1964 [ [http://www.investigateur.info/news/articles/article_2003_12_31_mort.html Chronique nécrologique] ] for the Soviet Union. He later worked in Tchécoslovaquia for the World Federation of Trade Unions.

After an amnesty law was voted in France in June 1966, notably amnestying crimes and offences committed during the Indochina War, he returned to France [ [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19660623&numTexte=05147&pageDebut=05147&pageFin=05147 Official legal text] ] where he obtained a position as a "maître de conférence" at Paris Diderot University, and researcher at CNRS. He took part in Mai 68.

On 13 February 1991, during a conference organised at the Senate by the "Centre des hautes études sur l’Afrique et l’Asie modernes", he was recognised by Jean-Jacques Beucler, then secretary of State for Veterans, who had personally taken part in the Indochina War, and been a prisoner in Camp 113. Further testimonies were brought forth, and within the year, charges of Crime against humanity were cast by former victims of Camp 113. The charges were turned down by the Cour de Cassation because of the 1966 amnesty law. A recourse made on 25 February 2000 at the European Court of Human Rights against France, complaining of the arrest of the Cour de Cassation and violations of freedom of speech, was similarly turned down in March 2003.

The ensuing controversy entailed an alinea in article 213-5 of the penal code as to make crimes against humanity unamnestiable. [ [http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/propositions/pion2500.asp Proposition de loi visant à rendre inamnistiables les crimes contre l'humanité] ] .

Works

* Georges Boudarel, "La Bureaucratie au Viêt Nam", L'Harmattan, 1983.
* Georges Boudarel, "Cent fleurs éclosent dans la nuit du Viêt Nam", Jacques Bertoin, 1991

Bibliography

* Yves Daoudal, préface de Jean-Baptiste Biaggi, "Le dossier Boudarel", Editions Remi Perrin, 2001
* Jean-Jacques Beucler, "Mémoires", France-Empire, 1991
* Thomas Capitaine, "Captifs du Viet-Minh. Les victimes de Boudarel parlent", Union nationale inter-universitaire, Paris, 1991 [http://www.chez.com/archives/ available online]
* Claude Cohen, « La problématique du crime contre l'humanité », "Gazette du Palais", 26 février 2002, n° 57, p.46

External links

* [http://www.anapi.asso.fr/fr_L'affaire%20Boudare_43.htm L'affaire Boudarel] (site officiel de l'ANAPI)
* [http://www.piedsnoirs-aujourdhui.com/boudarel02.html L'Affaire Boudarel]
* [http://www.denistouret.net/textes/Daoudal.html Le dossier Boudarel]
* Proposition de loi du 13 juillet 2005, visant à rendre inamnistiables les crimes contre l'humanité: [http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/propositions/pion2500.asp] (Assemblée nationale)

Jurisprudence

*Crim. Légifrance|base=CASS|numéro=CXRXAX1993X04X06X00143X000|url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichJuriJudi.do?idTexte=JURITEXT000007065738&dateTexte=|texte=1er avril 1993, pourvoi n°92-82273, Bulletin criminel 1993 N° 143 p. 351 (rapport du conseiller Guerder à la "Gazette du Palais" n°174, 175, 23-24 juin 1993)
*Crim. Légifrance|base=INCA|numéro=IXRXCX1999X09X06X00859X002|url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichJuriJudi.do?idTexte=JURITEXT000007594327&dateTexte=|texte=7 septembre 1999, pourvoi n°98-85902

Notes and references