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French war criminal Touvier dies in jail at 81
July 18, 1996
Web posted at: 6:00 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT)PARIS (CNN) -- Paul Touvier, the only Frenchman to be jailed for World War II crimes against humanity, died Wednesday in a prison hospital after a long battle with cancer, officials said.
Touvier was intelligence chief of the pro-Nazi militia in central France in the last year of the German Occupation. After spending nearly 50 years in hiding, he was convicted in 1994 of ordering the execution of Jewish hostages in Rilleux-la-Pape during the war, and given a life sentence.
He also was accused of killing human rights leader Victor Basch and the leaders of Lyon's synagogue. A self-proclaimed devout Christian who always argued that he was merely serving France, Touvier remained defiant even after his arrest in 1989.
He told police who took him into custody, "I regret nothing." He was finally found in a monastery in southern France.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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