Nathalie Ménigon (born 28 February 1957 in

Enghien-les-Bains Enghien-les-Bains () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departements of France, department of Val-d'Oise, France. It is located in the northern suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Enghien-les-Bains is famous as a s ...

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.< ...

), was convicted for acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

committed while she was a member of the French revolutionary group Action directe. She was sentenced to life in prison in 1989 and released in August 2008 after serving more than 20 years in prison.

Arrest and imprisonment

She was arrested, with her companions

Jean-Marc Rouillan Action Directe (; AD; ) was a French far-left militant organization that originated from the anti-Franco struggle and the autonomous movement, and was responsible for deadly attacks in France between 1979 and 1987. The French government banne ...

Joëlle Aubron Joëlle Aubron (26 June 1959 – 1 March 2006) was a militant in the French group Action directe (armed group), Action directe. Action directe involvement and arrests Arrested on 9 April 1982, she was sentenced to 4 years in prison for concea ...

and Georges Cipriani, on 18 February 1987 on a farm in

Vitry-aux-Loges Vitry-aux-Loges () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Population See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 communes of the Loiret department of France. The communes co ...

. She was convicted in 1989 for the 1986 assassination of

Georges Besse Georges Besse (25 December 1927 – 17 November 1986) was a French businessman who helped lead several large state-controlled companies. He was assassinated outside his Paris home in front of one of his children by the armed group Action direct ...

, then-president of

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

, and of the 1985 assassination of René Audran, a senior official at the

French Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Armed Forces (, , ) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of managing the French Armed Forces inside and outside French territory. Its head is the Minister of the Armed Forces. From 1947 until 2017, the Ministry w ...

. She was sentenced to life in prison."Nathalie Ménigon obtient une semi-liberté, appel du parquet"
''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'', 10 May 2007 (source

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

). She married

on 29 June 1999 at the

Fleury-Mérogis Prison Fleury-Mérogis Prison (''Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis'') is a prison in France, located in the town of Fleury-Mérogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris. With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in Europe. It is operated b ...

Release from prison

She was imprisoned in the Bapaume Prison, located in

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

, until August 2007. She was three times denied a suspended sentence for medical reasons, after suffering from

hemiplegia Hemiparesis, also called unilateral paresis, is the weakness of one entire side of the body ('' hemi-'' means "half"). Hemiplegia, in its most severe form, is the complete paralysis of one entire side of the body. Either hemiparesis or hemiplegia ...

, depression, problems balancing, and spasms. In May 2007 she was transferred to a house arrest program. The conditions allowed her to work during the days, but she had to spend her nights in prison. This parole was required in order for her to eventually be conditionally released from prison. Her conditional release was effective 2 August 2008. While in prison she suffered from

, caused by two

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

s. She also engaged in self-harm in 2003, in protest of the jail conditions.

New Anticapitalist Party

In July 2008, she expressed interest in the

New Anticapitalist Party The New Anticapitalist Party ( , NPA ) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of the French radical Left, and attract new activ ...

, started by

Olivier Besancenot Olivier Christophe Besancenot (; born 18 April 1974) is a French far-left political figure and trade unionist, and the founding main spokesperson of the New Anticapitalist Party (''Nouveau parti anticapitaliste'', NPA) from 2009 to 2011. He wa ...

and the Revolutionary Communist League.Le Point - n°1868 - 3 July 2008

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menigon, Nathalie 1957 births Autonomism French assassins French female murderers French people convicted of murder French prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People from Enghien-les-Bains People imprisoned on terrorism charges Living people People convicted of murder by France Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France People paroled from life sentence