French Presidential Candidate Benoit Hamon Condemns Vandalization of Misak Manouchian’s Statue

PARIS (Armenpress) –. French Socialist Party’s candidate in the presidential elections Benoit Hamon has condemned the act of vandalization of Misak Manouchian ’s statue.

“Shame on those who did it. He and his family were shot dead by the Nazis in France”, Benoit Hamon twitted and posted the photo of  Manouchian ’s group.

Honte à ceux qui ont profané la stèle de Missak Manouchian. Lui et ses camarades fusillés par les nazis étaient la France. #AfficheRouge pic.twitter.com/5ZGJvECbOk — Benoît Hamon (@benoithamon).

Earlier member of French national Assembly Henri Jibrayel had severely condemned the act of vandalization of Misak Manouchian’s statue. The MP urges in his statement to investigate and reveal the culprits.

“Misak Manouchian headed the group comprised of mainly refugees that struggled during the years of Resistance to free France from Nazism. This act is an insult for the Republic and anything France values, especially for those struggling on behalf of this country”, Henri Jibrayel announced.

Parliamentarian Marie-Arlette Carlotti has also sent a letter to the Minister of Interior of France over the case.

********************

Missak Manouchian (1 September 1906 – 21 February 1944) was a French-Armenian poet and communist activist. An Armenian Genocide survivor, he moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1925. He was active in communist Armenian literary circles. During World War II, he became the military commissioner of FTP-MOI, a group consisting of European immigrants, including many Jews, in the Paris region which carried out assassinations and bombings of Nazi targets. According to one author, the Manouchian group was the most active French Resistance group. Manouchian and many of his comrades were arrested in November 1943 and executed by the Nazis in Fort Mont-Valérien on 21 February 1944. He is considered hero of the French Resistance.