The Algerian Parliament unanimously adopted on Wednesday December 24, 2025 a law criminalizing French colonization (1830-1962) and demanding from France “ official apology », in an approach with strong symbolic significance.
Standing in the hemicycle, the deputies, scarves in the colors of the Algerian flag around their necks, applauded the passage of the text. The law requires the French State to bear “ legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused “. In particular, it lists the imprescriptible crimes of French colonization: nuclear tests, extrajudicial executions, large-scale physical and psychological torture, and systematic looting of wealth.
According to the official statement from the National People’s Assembly (NPC), the adopted text includes five chapters and 27 articles. It is based on “ the principles of international law enshrining the right of peoples to legal equity and historical justice, and the end of impunity ».
The law establishes France’s responsibility for its colonial past and provides mechanisms to obtain official recognition and an apology, considered a prerequisite for any reconciliation with history and the preservation of national memory. It also contains penal provisions punishing the glorification of colonization.
This initiative comes in an already tense context between the two countries, where questions of memory continue to weigh heavily on bilateral relations.
R.B.H
