France recognises torture during Algeria war for first time

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France has formally acknowledged its army's systemic use of torture in the Algerian war in the 1950s and 60s.

French President Emmanuel Macron issued the statement in the context of a call for clarity concerning the fate of Maurice Audin, an anti-colonial activist, who was tortured and killed by the French army in 1957.

Macron visited Audin's widow at her home in Seine-Saint-Denis to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the French Republic.