France has officially returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be that of King Toera, a monarch beheaded by French soldiers in the 19th century.

The remains were handed over on Tuesday, marking the first restitution since France passed a 2023 law allowing the return of looted human remains. Among the skulls were those of two other members of the Sakalava ethnic group.

History records that King Toera was decapitated in 1897 during a French-led massacre, and his skull was later taken to Paris as a war trophy. It remained in France’s National Museum of Natural History for over a century, alongside hundreds of other colonial-era remains.

Speaking at the ceremony, French Culture Minister, Rachida Dati, admitted the skulls had been acquired in ways that “violated human dignity” and reflected the brutality of colonial rule.

Madagascar’s Culture Minister, Volamiranty Donna Mara, described the restitution as a powerful step towards healing historical wounds. “Their absence, for more than 128 years, has been an open wound in the heart of our island. Today, this return begins a new era of cooperation,” she said.

Although a joint scientific committee confirmed that the skulls were from the Sakalava people, experts noted they could only “presume” that one indeed belonged to King Toera.

For Madagascar, however, the return carries deep symbolic meaning — a long-awaited act of justice and recognition after more than a century of silence.