A riveting account of Sherman's counter-investigation into the circumstances of the death of French Grand Reporter Didier Contant who fell to his death whilst investigating the assassination of the monks of Tibhirine.
Press Release, March 3rd, 2007
15 February 2004. Didier Contant, independent journalist, is victim of a mortal fall from the balcony of a Parisian building. The police hastily announces a suicide. However, many questions remain unanswered. At the time of his death, co-journalists, determined to undermine his most recent investigation into the kidnapping and assassination of the Tibhirine monks in 1995, harassed the former editor in chief of Gamma. They accused him of working for the French and Algerian secret services and discredited him with the magazine that could have published his story. His honour and reputation profoundly damaged, Didier Contant could not tolerate the slander and died under mysterious circumstances. Only one journalist dared to evoke the responsibility of the co-journalists from Canal+ in his death: Jean-François Kahn in the weekly magazine, Marianne. At first condemned for slander, Kahn has just won his appeal case which established a direct link between the doings of the Canal + journalists and the death of Didier Contant. In « Le huitième mort de Tibhirine », Contant’s companion exposes the irresponsible and abject behaviour of those who wanted to silence Didier Contant and who succeeded beyond what they may have imagined. A poignant story about the cry of a woman who refuses to accept the official version, who fights both for the truth and the memory of the man she loved.
Three questions to Rina Sherman, author of the book « Le Huitième Mort de Tibhirine »:
Why did you write this book?
As a response to an ethic, which consists of respecting, the identity and dignity of the other, whoever he is, respect that understands freedom of expression and the right to justice as a fundamental human right.
Are you not afraid that your book may be perceived as a form of revenge?
A man died. The police did not want to investigate seriously. The judiciary did not want to pursuit the investigation. The journalists did not want to talk. The lawyers protected their colleagues. Everyone has the right to know the truth and to demand that justice be done.
The story that you tell is overwhelming. Surely you needed great courage to write it?
To not lose your sense of self, or have reason give way, requires the ability to face yourself under all circumstances; that does not require courage, it is the essence of the human spirit.
- Éditions Tatamis, Paris, 2007
- Lazhari Labter Éditions & Le soir d’Algérie, Alger, 2007
Le huitième mort de Tibhirine will be published in Arab in 2009 by Lazhari Labter Éditions in Algiers.
Paris of My Exiles
For more information, see: « L’autre enquête sur Tibhirine » in Golias Magazine, no. 115
