Overview
- Algeria’s National Assembly approved the measure unanimously on December 24, declaring French colonization a crime and asserting France’s legal responsibility for resulting harms.
- The law catalogs alleged abuses including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, torture and resource plunder, and asserts a right to full and fair compensation for material and moral damages.
- It orders restitution steps such as returning archives and property moved to France, handing over detailed maps of nuclear test sites, and repatriating the remains of resistance fighters.
- Domestic provisions criminalize the glorification of colonialism with penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines up to one million dinars, and remove any statute of limitations on colonial‑era crimes.
- France’s Foreign Ministry condemned the legislation as a hostile initiative that hinders efforts to renew dialogue, as the dispute deepens against a backdrop of strains over Western Sahara and broader African calls for redress.