Victims of terrorism receive the National Medal of Recognition

The decision was expected months ago. The Official Journal of 4 November publishes the first collective decree attributing the National Medal of Recognition to Victims of Terrorism signed by the President of the Republic. This first promotion has 124 people killed or wounded physically and / or psychologically in 21 Islamist terrorist actions that have occurred in France or abroad since 2011. The list illustrates the extent of the terrorist threat both in terms of the number of victims and the number of victims. the nature of the organizations involved (Daesh, AQIM, Shebab, "endogenous" terrorism …) and places of attack (in France, Europe, Africa, Turkey and the Syrian-Iraqi zone). The victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris and Saint-Denis (61 decorated including four for the Stade de France attacks), and those of July 14, 2016 in Nice (36 decorated) are the most represented. Also honored are journalists Nicolas Hénin, former hostage of Daesh, and Ghislaine Dupont, killed in Mali on November 2, 2013. There are also people killed or wounded in Niger on January 8, 2011 (a decorated), in the attack on the site Algerian tanker of In Anemas, January 16, 2013 (a decorated), in Djibouti May 24, 2014 (three victims of a bomb in a restaurant, a claim claimed by the Somali Shebab). Two victims of Amedy Coulibaly (in Montrouge on January 8, 2015 and in the Hyper Cacher de Vincennes on January 9) are decorated. Next come the attacks of the Bardo museum in Tunis (4 decorated) on March 18, 2015 and Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso) on January 15, 2016 (two decorated). Then, with each time only one person decorated for each attack, the attacks of Bamako (Mali) on November 20, 2015 and June 18, 2017, Ouagadougou August 13, 2017, Grand Bbadam (Ivory Coast) March 13, 2016 , from Brussels on March 22, 2016, from Gao (Mali) on May 31, 2016, from Istanbul on January 1, 2017 and from London on June 3, 2017. And finally four French people hit in the van attack Ram of Las Ramblas in Barcelona , August 17, 2017.

READ ALSO – The number of terrorist attacks and casualties in the world

Of the decorated people, 22 people died, 102 were injured physically and / or psychologically. 14 decorated people are foreigners, 7 are minors and 6 belong to public or private security and defense forces. The National Medal of Recognition for Victims of Terror was created on July 12, 2016 by a presidential decree of François Hollande on the proposal of the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor. A decree published in the OJ of July 13, a few hours before the attack in Nice. In a circular of March 6, 2018, the Ministry of Justice states that it is "intended to demonstrate the homage of the Nation to victims of terrorist acts committed on the national territory or abroad." In its press release on Sunday, the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor said that the Medal "is intended to pay tribute to the victims and to salute their resilience" and that it is "a symbol of solidarity and contributes to the cohesion national ".

This creation had sparked a controversy

The genesis of this new decoration goes back to 2015, after the attacks of January then the attacks of November 13th. After the attacks against Charlie Hebdo and the Hyper Cacher, victims, including the cartoonists of the weekly, had been decorated with the Legion of Honor. With the 130 deaths of Paris and Saint-Denis, it became difficult to do the same with respect to the award criteria of the Legion of Honor. Thus imposed the idea of ​​a particular decoration not intended to reward services rendered to the Nation but to pay tribute to the victims.

This creation had sparked a controversy, some badociations of victims supporting the project, such as the French Association of Victims of Terrorism of William Denoix of Saint Mark, while others found it useless. Veterans' badociations had also criticized the fact that this "tribute" medal was going to arrive in ceremonial rank in front of "merit" military decorations. In France, decorations awarded in the name of the President of the Republic are indeed first, before the ministerial decorations. It should be noted, however, that in the same spirit Spain has already created in 1999, notably to honor the victims of ETA, a "Royal Order of Civil Recognition for Victims of Terrorism".

The Medal is awarded retroactively

The French Medal may be granted to French citizens killed, wounded or sequestrated during terrorist acts committed in France or abroad but also to foreigners killed, wounded or sequestrated during terrorist acts committed in France or abroad against interests of the French Republic. It must be requested by the victim or, in case of death, by his family. The person concerned may be minor. But those concerned must be recognized as victims of terrorism, either by the Paris prosecutor's office or by the victims' guarantee fund, or must appear on the shared list of victims of terrorism held by the Ministry of Justice.

»READ ALSO – Terrorism: a committee advocates the creation of a memorial museum in Paris

Finally, the Medal is awarded retroactively: January 1, 2006 was chosen as the reference date. Before this first group promotion, a first posthumous award was held in the utmost discretion on June 1, 2018 for a young victim of the Islamist attack in Cairo, February 22, 2009 – a craft machine placed under a bench had exploded in the neighborhood of old Cairo killing a French high school girl and doing more than twenty wounded. She was the first to receive this "flower with five petals, with on the obverse, the statue of the Republic erected on the eponymous square in Paris, accompanied by the exergue" French Republic ", and, on the reverse side, two French flags crossed as well as the motto "Liberty-Equality-Fraternity". Like so many symbols that terrorists sought in vain to reach by killing innocent people.