Algeria’s parliament has unanimously passed a law declaring France’s colonization of the country a crime.
On Wednesday, lawmakers stood in the chamber wearing scarves in national colors, chanting “Long live Algeria” as the bill was approved, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The legislation also formally demands an apology and reparations from Paris, aiming to address historical grievances that have often been overlooked.
The law holds France “legally responsible for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused,” placing historical accountability at the heart of Algeria’s legal framework.
While analysts say the law carries no enforceable international weight, its political impact is significant, signalling a rupture in how Algeria engages France over colonial memory.
Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Boughali said the legislation sent “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable”, according to the APS state news agency.
The text catalogues crimes of French colonial rule, including nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “physical and psychological torture” and the “systematic plundering of resources”.
It also asserts that “full and fair compensation for all material and moral damages caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and people”.