militant anarchist organization Action Directe were sent three months later. The organization claimed responsibility for the murder, stating the murder was in retaliation for his reforms of the financially stricken automaker Renault which involved laying off a large number of workers. However, the Action Directe members denied any responsibility during their trial. Two women, Nathalie Ménigon and Joëlle Aubron, were charged with his murder in March 1987 and were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989. Two other Action Directe members, Jean-Marc Rouillan and Georges Cipriani, were convicted as accomplices and also sentenced to life imprisonment. Commemoration Renault's car assembly plant in Douai in northern France, was renamed in Besse's honour. The Georges Besse gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant was operated by COGEMA (later AREVA) from 1979 to 2012 at Tricastin, then replaced by the Georges Besse II centrifuge enrichment plant. See also American Motors Corporation (AMC) List of assassinations References 1927 births 1980s murders in Paris 1986 deaths 1986 murders in France American Motors people Assassinated French people Autonomism Businesspeople from Clermont-Ferrand Chief executives in the automobile industry Corps des mines Deaths by firearm in France École Polytechnique alumni French terrorism victims Mines Paris - PSL alumni People murdered in Paris Renault people Terrorism deaths in France