The long-awaited trial of Said Bouteflika, brother and eminence of deposed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, as well as two former powerful intelligence chiefs and a political party leader, began Monday (September 23rd) in Blida, Algeria.

Judged for conspiracy after holding secret meetings, Said Bouteflika, Mohamed Mediene, known as "Toufik", dreaded director of the Algerian secret services for 25 years, his successor Athmane Tartag and the head of the Workers Party (PT, Trotskyist) Louisa Hanoune appear in camera in front of a military court.

Considered the true number one of the Algerian executive since his brother's stroke in 2013, Saïd Bouteflika and the two former intelligence bosses were jailed on May 5th. Louisa Hanoune, head of the PT, was remanded in custody four days later.

The charges are heavy, like the sentences of the defendants: "undermining the authority of the army", punishable by 5 to 10 years of criminal imprisonment and "conspiracy to change the regime" punishable by capital punishment. Only the lawyers and families of the accused were allowed to attend the hearing, while a large police force was set up around the military court in Blida, southwest of Algiers.

Public television has called the trial "unprecedented in the history of Algerian justice", while the daily El Watan referred to "a single trial in the history of the country, as much by the alleged facts as by the rank of the accused in detention ".

The defense admitted that Louisa Hanoune had participated in a meeting with Saïd Bouteflika and General "Toufik" on March 27, 2019, the day after a statement by the Chief of Staff of the army, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, publicly demanding the departure of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. A few days later, the chief of staff and strongman of the country had accused, without naming them, Said Bouteflika and generals Mediene and Tartag of plotting against the army.

"A historical event"

"This is a historic trial," Noureddine Bekkis, a professor of political sociology at the University of Algiers, told AFP. The power management of internal conflicts traditionally resembles a "black box", but "the usual mechanisms of internal conflict resolution have failed".

This trial is also a victory for the popular protest movement, which has been demonstrating peacefully every Friday since 22 February. He forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to give up a fifth term and then resign on April 2nd, after two decades in power. This led to a wave of arrests in certain circles of power and the opening of a series of investigations into allegations of corruption against former political and military officials and businessmen who maintained privileged links with the entourage of the deposed president.

"Algerians are watching this trial very closely, some even talk about the trial of the century, says Mohamed Allal, Algerian journalist interviewed by France 24. From the beginning of the protest movement, the demonstrators demanded accountability and justice is done against them. pillars of the Bouteflika system, but today we are facing the judgment of some of the most important symbols of the Bouteflika years, a historic event that no one would have imagined to have witnessed until a few months ago ".

Still, this trial, however emblematic it is, hardly convincing everyone. A large section of the population is demanding the departure of all the components of the "system".

"It's a selective purge"

"This trial, which does not concern corruption, and which can make think of the profile of the majority of the accused to a settlement of personal account of General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, does not necessarily satisfy the Algerian street, said Gauthier Rybinski , a specialist of international politics at France 24. Of course, a few months ago, the Algerians were interested in all these characters, and perhaps they could have been satiated by the holding of such a trial, but they are no longer there and are calling for a fundamental questioning of the Bouteflika system, and therefore it is not certain that the army and General Ahmed Gaïd Salah are not once again at a loss from expectations of the street ".

Some in Algeria believe that this trial is a maneuver of power to calm the protesters still mobilized every Friday. They have just started a new standoff with General Ahmed Gaïd Salah and the announcement of the holding of a presidential election on December 12. "Of course, some doubt the outcome of this trial, they call masquerade or internal settlement system, adds Mohamed Allal." Still, the result is there, since symbols of the regime and the corruption that has plagued the Algerian state for the last 20 years, and who had the plan to continue their work for five more years, are in detention and in the hands of justice ".

With AFP