French doctor Chaulet dies at 82

Anti-colonial French doctor Pierre Chaulet Algiers – Hocine Bousaleh Anti-colonial French doctor Pierre Chaulet, who worked for the National Liberation Front in Algeria's war of independence, died aged 82. He died of stomach cancer.  Chaulet was born on March 27, 1930 in Algeria. He joined the battle against French colonial rule and carried out secret operations with national liberation front fighters during the war, led by Abane Ramdane. Pierre Chaulet was expelled from France during the liberation revolution because of his support to the freedom and liberation of Algeria. With the help of his wife Claudine, who was committed to the independence of Algeria, he joined the National Liberation Front in Tunisia and continued his resistance as a doctor and journalist, writing for the newspaper of the front El-Moudjahid. He was one of the founders of the Algerian Press Service in Tunisia. Dr Chaulet, who was specialised in respiratory diseases, chose the Algerian nationality after the independence and worked for the Algerian Health Ministry as well as the World Health Organisation as a tuberculosis expert. Chaulet was also vice president of the National Observatory for Human Rights, and member in the National Economic and Social Council, and was also elected in the first popular national council in Algiers. During the security crisis in Algeria in the nineties, Pierre Chaulet had to leave the country again after receiving death threats from Islamic armed groups who were targeting scientists and intellectuals. Chaulet wrote his memories with his wife in 2012, in a book entitled “Le choix de l'Algérie, deux voix, une mémoire” (Algeria’s choice, two voices, one memory). According to the testimony of close friends of Chaulet, his wish was to be buried in the Christian cemetery at El-Madania in Algiers next to Henri Maillot, a member of the Algerian Communist Party of European origins who joined the Algerian revolutionaries. A remembrance ceremony was organised on Sunday in Montpellier attended by his family, friends, Algerian Consular representatives and members of the Algerian community living in France.