Algiers (AFP)
A human rights defender in Algeria, in prison since the beginning of December, was released on bail after his trial was postponed until the end of the month and a journalist was released, their lawyers announced on Tuesday.
Kaddour Chouicha, vice-president of the Algerian League for Human Rights (LADDH), was sentenced in December to one year in prison by the court in Oran (northwest), accused in particular of "violence against 'against officials'.
As his appeal trial was postponed to January 28, he has been released on bail, "Farid Khemisti, a member of his defense collective, told AFP.
"Today, it is an independent justice" which released him, welcomed Me Khemisti.
"The fight has just started. We must keep up the pressure and strengthen solidarity at the national level for the detainees," Mr. Chouicha, 63, told AFP by phone just after his release from prison in Oran.
A hundred people - including students who had come expressly on the sidelines of their weekly parade - were waiting for him outside the prison, while protesters outside the Oran court chanted his name.
Contacted by AFP, Mr. Chouicha's wife said she was "relieved" and "thanked all the people who mobilized for him". According to her, the decision of provisional release was taken "after 10 minutes of deliberation" of the magistrates.
Mr. Khemisti had assured that his client's accusation file was empty, based only on videos found on Mr. Chouicha's phone, which would only have shared them.
In another trial, the director of an internet radio station, Abdelkrim Zeghileche, imprisoned since the end of December, was released on Tuesday, his lawyer, Moumene Chadi, told AFP.
Accused of "defamation", liable to two years' imprisonment, Mr. Zeghileche was sentenced by the court in Constantine (north-east of the country) to pay a fine of 50,000 dinars (374 euros), according to Mr. Chadi.
In addition, the verdict in a second trial against the journalist for "contempt of the head of state", in which one year in prison had been requested against him, was postponed to a later date, said the lawyer.
Last Thursday, 76 people detained within the framework of "Hirak", the popular protest movement which has shaken Algeria since February 22, were released.
Some were released before the end of their sentences, but the majority were in pre-trial detention.
These releases represent around half of the approximately 140 "Hirak detainees" counted before this measure by the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), which identifies and supports them.
© 2020 AFP