LOC22:58
19:58 GMT
ALGIERS, April 1 (KUNA) -- Algerian committee for promotion and protection
of human rights expressed dismay Sunday for a French declaration of selling in
auction devices used for torture against the Algerian people during the French
colonization.
"We have learned through the press with great dismay that torture devices
including a guillotine, which were used in the past in our country, have been
placed for sale in an auction in France by its current owner," the committee
said in a statement.
"This ugly act which aims at glorifying the colonization era ..., is a
spontaneous provocation against a country getting ready to revive the 50th
anniversary for its independence," it added.
French auction house, Cornette de Saint-Cyr, had announced suspension of
the display of the torture devices in an auction that was scheduled on April 3
in Paris.
The reported auctioning of the torture devices triggered anger by human
rights organizations.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr said because of this outrage, they decided to suspend
the auction in order to allow all parties concerned study the contents of the
devices carefully and calmly. (end)
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