The identities of 26 of the 27 recorded victims of the sinking in the Channel last month of a boat carrying migrants trying to cross the sea from France to the UK have been identified by the French authorities.
The trial of 20 individuals accused of variously perpetrating or helping with the perpetration of the November 13th 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris this week entered its third week, in what is just the beginning of a legal marathon that is expected to last nine months. As part of its regular coverage of the hearings, Mediapart is publishing the first-hand reactions and reflections of seven victims of the massacres as they follow the court proceedings. Here, Nadine Ribet-Reinhart, whose 26-year-old son was among 90 people massacred at the Bataclan concert hall, and Georges Salines, who lost his 28-year-old daughter in the same attack, write about their initial experiences of a trial that has been almost six years in the making.
The French Catholic Church's bishops' conference has agreed to soon begin paying financial compensation to victims of sex crimes by its clergy and who are unable to bring legal action against the perpetrators because of France's statute of limitations for the prosecution of such crimes.
A Thai tourist was among two people killed and an Italian journalist and a garagist of Afghan origin were reported to be among the 13 others wounded in a shooting spree on the streets of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening when a gunman, apparently acting alone and who witnesses say shouted "god is greater" in Arabic, succeeded in escaping the scene.
Many thousands of people disappeared without trace during the occupation of large parts of Iraq by the Islamic State (IS) group between 2013 and 2017, most of them feared buried in hundreds of mass graves around the country which remain unexcavated. But among the lost, whose families continue to seek news of their fate, are also former captives of the jihadists, who are now detained in Iraqi prisons suspected of being members of IS. The increasingly desperate families of the vanished are demanding action to establish the truth about what happened to their relatives, and the mounting anger has become an issue in this weekend’s parliamentary elections in the country. Jérémy André reports from the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Lawyers of victims of the November 13th 2015 terrorist attacks in the French capital, which left 130 people dead and hundreds more wounded, say their clients should receive additional compensation for the “very considerable distress” they suffered and victims’ families be compensated for the hardship endured while waiting for news of their loved ones.
The ceremony, at the Invalides military complex in Paris, was attended by hundreds of relatives of the victims of a series of terrorist attacks in France since January 2015, and also by President François Hollande and political leaders.
The authorities in Amatrice, after which is named a pasta dish, launches legal action over cartoons mocking victims of the devastating August earthquake as 'penne in tomato sauce' and 'lasagne'.
The Spanish government on Friday announced its refusal to grant a request lodged last October by Argentina for the arrests and extraditions of 20 former members of the fascist regime of General Francisco Franco for human rights abuses, including torture. Under Argentine law, the officials, who include two Francoist ministers, can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity even though committed in Spain. Madrid’s rejection of the Argentine request, tabled via Interpol, was a further bitter blow for associations representing the relatives of the victims of Francoist repression who just days earlier had travelled to Brussels to demand that European Union institutions exert pressure on Spain to render justice for the atrocities committed under the 36-year dictatorship. Mediapart Brussels correspondent Ludovic Lamant reports.
