This is a historic decision that has just been handed down this Friday, March 27, 2026. The French administrative court has recognized the State's fault for not having implemented the "means likely to shed light on the precise circumstances" of the death of one of the African riflemen massacred by the French army in December 1944.

In an official statement, the Paris Administrative Court emphasizes that the French authorities, after providing several erroneous pieces of information to the soldier's family for decades, subsequently "did not implement all the means at their disposal to shed light on the precise circumstances of his death and his burial place."

Compensation for "moral damages"

While the court explained that it could not hold France liable for the death itself due to the statute of limitations, it nevertheless acknowledged a serious failure in the handling of the memory and the information owed to the families. The judge therefore decided to compensate for the "moral harm linked to this failure to investigate the precise circumstances of the death" by awarding €10,000 in damages to the son of the fallen soldier.

The court notes sternly that after the events, France officially claimed that this soldier was a "deserter," that his pay had been received, and that the French army's gunfire was a "proportionate response." These claims have now been refuted by the facts.

80 years of searching for the truth

As a reminder, on December 1, 1944, the French army opened fire at the Thiaroye camp, near Dakar, on riflemen from several West African countries (Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso). These soldiers, who had fought for the liberation of France, were simply demanding payment of their back pay.

Although President Emmanuel Macron officially acknowledged in 2024 that it was a "massacre," many questions remain unanswered. The exact number of victims and the location of the mass graves remain state secrets to this day, secrets that this ruling now forces us to confront. This conviction represents an initial legal victory for the families fighting to ensure that the phrase "Died for France" is no longer a mere slogan, but the restoration of a historical truth that has been violated.