Paul Aussaresses

A French court has convicted a former general who defended the use of torture during Algeria's war for independence of trying to justify war crimes.

The court in Paris convicted Paul Aussaresses, 83, of complicity in justifying war crimes in his best-selling memoirs, Special Service: Algeria 1955-57. He was fined $6,500. The judges also convicted two top executives of the company, Plon, that published the book of complicity in justifying the crimes and fined them $13,000 each. All three have announced plans to appeal.

The book detailed the methods of torture the former general said he used against Algerian prisoners during the conflict and implied that top French leaders were aware of the practice. The former general was not tried for his actions but only for justifying them in the book. He was covered by a 1968 amnesty covering the Algerian war. The memoirs provoked outrage because he refused to express regret and made clear that torture was an accepted war-time practice for extracting urgent information.

French authorities stripped the former general of his right to wear a military uniform and Legion of Honor in response to the book. The eight-year conflict ended in 1962 with French recognition of Algeria's independence and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP, DPA and Reuters.

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