"Mr Venner, who was awarded a prestigious prize by l'Académie française for one of his historical works, was a former member of the Secret Army Organisation (OAS), the paramilitary group which fought against France giving up Algeria as a colony.
He was jailed for 18 months in La Santé Prison as a political undesirable for his role in the ultra-national organisation and was freed in 1962.
Thanks for that background info - revealing.
This sad and dramatic case reminds me of the murder of the ArchBishop of Paris, in 1857, at a church just near Notre Dame. A deranged priest killed the ArchBishop to protest against the newly proclaimed dogma of the Immaculate Conception.