Macron admits to torture during Algerian war

France last week acknowledged that it instigated a 'system' that led to torture during Algeria's independence war, a landmark admission in a conflict that remains hugely sensitive 60 years later. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to confirm that mathematician Maurice Audin, who disappeared in 1957, 'died under torture stemming from the system instigated while Algeria was part of France', his office said. A report on the IoL site notes that Macron's office said he is also expected to announce 'the opening of archives on the subject of disappeared civilians and soldiers, both French and Algerian'. The presidency said the special powers given to the army to restore order in Algeria 'laid the ground for some terrible acts, including torture'. France censored wartime newspapers, books and films that claimed it was using torture, and atrocities by its troops have remained a largely taboo subject. During the 1954-62 war, French forces brutally cracked down on independence fighters in the colony ruled by Paris for 130 years.