PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) France's chief of the defense staff Francois Lecointre reportedly sent a letter to all soldiers on Tuesday, inviting them to leave the armed forces if they wished to continue dabbling in politics.
The message, seen by the France Bleu radio and other outlets, came in response to two open letters that appeared in a right-wing magazine just weeks apart. In them, retired generals and anonymous active-duty soldiers warned of a brewing civil war and Islamists taking over the country.
"The most reasonable thing is certainly to quit the institution to be able to publicize your ideas and convictions freely," Lecointre wrote.
He accused service personnel of breaking the law that requires them to remain politically neutral and dragging the military into a political debate "in which it cannot intervene either legally or vocationally."
Defense Minister Florence Parly vowed after the first letter came out that its authors would be punished, leading the second letter to call the threat of sanctions "perverse." Interior Minister Gerald Moussa Darmanin mocked the anonymous authors of the second letter over their perceived lack of courage.
