(…) The AFP provides the regional dailies with news. Most of them mention the bloody deed to Alban Gervaise, if at all, only with a few lines in the section “faits divers”. A notable exception was the Ardennes daily L’Union, which published an editorial on May 31st with the headline “Alban Gervaise, un nom qui ne vous dit rien” (Alban Gervaise, a name that doesn’t mean anything to you) to express outrage at the media coverage concerning his slaying.
In the national print media, Le Figaro, Le Point and Valeurs Actuelles were the only ones to treat the issue for what it is: a murder in the name of Allah. Le Monde, Libération and Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France did not report a single word about it in their print editions or on their websites. In the rest of the press, apart from France info.fr and TF1 Info, only Europe 1, Sud Radio and CNEWS were the only major media outlets that really covered the issue.
The victim’s wife refused any media coverage in order to protect her three children. But respect for her personal fate did not prevent the media from doing their job, as the soldiers were the first to demand. I would like to understand why the barbaric murder of our colleague Alban Gervaise got so little press coverage,” said a senior army officer in Paris. Is it because he was in the military? Out of ideology or to deny reality? Many of us are asking ourselves this question. And we want an answer, because this silence in the media is like a second death”.
Since the time I received the message of his murder, the same questions have been going through my mind over and over again,” asserts a squadron commander who recently earned his patent at the War Academy. What is the death of a soldier really worth in our country? When we sign up, we know the risks we are taking and we take responsibility for them. By serving the French troops, we do not expect any special recognition. We do our duty without complaining. But here I don’t understand why the death of the chief medical officer Alban Gervaise, who was a victim of terrorism, has been so hushed up. It is a shame”.(…) Le Figaro