Students' Lawyer Killed

The trials of 15 North African students, scheduled to take place in Paris on May 23, had been cancelled for approximately one month due to the assassination of the students' defence attorney, Amokrane Ould Aoudia.

He was found dead the morning of the trials with a wound in his chest inflicted by a small revolver. The 15 students were among some 30 Algerian and Tunisian students who were arrested in December, 1958.

Fourteen of the 15 awaiting trial were Algerians, including one girl. Two charges had been levied against the group of students: (1) they had attempted to re-establish a "dissolved organisation" and (2) they had undermined the external security of the French nation.

The dissolved organisation referred to in the charge is UGEMA, which was "legally dissolved" by a French government decree of January 1958. COSEC has sent a circular to all National Unions of Students informing them of the trials and the assassination of Mr Ould Aoudia..

The circular also told of the problems Algerian students had long faced in obtaining legal counsel after being arrested In France. The most famous case in point is that of Mohammed Khemisti, who was forced to wait two months to obtain a lawyer after being arrested in November, 1957.—(COSEC Information Bulletin, Leiden.)