Attack on the Strasbourg – Paris express train
The attack on the Strasbourg-Paris express train was a bomb attack that took place on June 18, 1961 on the Paris-Strasbourg railway near Blacy (Marne) between Vitry-le-François and Loisy-sur-Marne in northeastern France on the Rapide N ° train 12 was perpetrated. The explosion of a below the track -mounted explosive charge brought against 15:10 to the fact that the train derailed . 28 people were killed and 170 others were injured.
In response to a parliamentary question from Senator Jacques Duclos in December 1961, the terrorist organization Organization armée secrète (OAS) was suspected to be the perpetrator of the attack, among other things because the station master of Vitry-le-François had received a threatening letter from the OAS before the attack. In this it was announced that “the tracks will soon be blown up”.
A few days before the attack, the peace negotiations on the Algerian war , which had been accompanied by terrorist attacks in Algeria and which had begun in May 1961, were suspended for an indefinite period of time, and in early September 1961 Charles de Gaulle narrowly escaped an OAS bombing .
Legally, however, the offense was not cleared up, as noted , among other things, by the French Court of Cassation in an appeal decision on a compensation process in 1967.
Individual evidence
- ^ Débats parlementaires - Sénat. (PDF; 4.4 MByte) Questions écrites remises à la Présidence du Sénat. In: Journal officiel de la République française . Senate (France) , January 30, 1962, p. 3, No. 2294 , accessed on January 8, 2015 (French, written question from Senator Duclos to the Minister of Transport of December 28, 1961).
- ↑ Pause in Evian . In: The time . No. 25 , 1961 ( online ).
- ↑ Meeting point Melilla . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1961, pp. 78-80 ( online ).
- ↑ Cour de Cassation, Chamber civile 1, audience publique du 3 October 1967. Publié au bulletin. Court of Cassation , October 3, 1967, accessed January 8, 2015 (French).