Sidi Mohamed's misdemeanor court in central Algiers has sentenced 22 protesters to 12 months in prison, including six windows, on charges of "undermining the integrity of the nation," after raising the Amazigh flag during protests in Algeria nine months ago, according to the National Commission for the Release of Detainees.
"The verdict was issued at 2:30 am with six months in prison, six suspended, and a fine of 30,000 dinars (about 250 euros)," the committee said on its Facebook page.
According to the organization, which is campaigning for the release of detainees, the cases of 20 defendants, one of them in hospital, was postponed until November 18.
The verdict was confirmed by the vice-president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Said Salehi, in a video posted on social media, in which he announced that lawyers will appeal the verdicts, saying that «verdicts cruel and unexpected, especially since we were waiting for judges to judge their conscience after their strike to demand independence Justice".
The trial began on Monday morning of 42 demonstrators, while the prosecution asked «imprisonment of two years and 100,000 dinars (about 750 euros) a fine and book flags» for all defendants.
The arguments of the lawyers, numbering about seventy, were based on the fact that "nothing in the law prohibits the raising of the Amazigh flag.
The lawyers also protested the length of the proceedings "in a case that does not require four months of investigation."
Thousands of people demonstrated in Algeria yesterday, rejecting the presidential elections scheduled for December 12th.
"We don't want, we don't want your elections, we don't want," they chanted.
Protesters expressed outrage at the sentencing of 20 youth activists.
The official announcement of the final list of candidates in the presidential elections angered the street, which refused to hold the elections before the departure of all the names associated with outgoing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.