The trial for corruption of two former Algerian prime ministers, along with other former senior political leaders and big bosses of the automotive sector opens Wednesday, December 4. Adjourned from its opening Monday in Algiers, the defense announced that it would boycott its reopening.
Because the "conditions of a fair trial are not met", announced, on behalf of his colleagues, the president of Algiers, Mr. Abdelmajid Sellini, who also defends one of the accused, denouncing a "politicized" justice and a climate of "settlement of accounts".
"It's a travesty of justice"
Monday, an extremely large crowd was massed in the early hours of the morning in front of the court of Sidi M'hamed, in the center of Algiers, and the opening of the doors gave rise to a jostling, found a journalist of the AFP, who like other journalists and especially several defense lawyers, could not enter the courtroom. "This is a travesty of justice," said Hakim Saheb, an attorney from a senior executive of the ETRHB group, told AFP, "a trial must be held in calm and serenity".
The trial is the first in a series of large-scale investigations into suspected corruption after Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation in April, initially prompted by a popular "Hirak" protest against the regime's unprecedented regime after 20 years. at the head of the state.
The court was scheduled to hear cases on Monday regarding "the granting of excessive benefits to car assembly operators," according to Justice Minister Belkacem Zeghmati, who said the trial would be public, but not broadcast on television.
Other cases, which are to be judged later, include public procurement and campaign financing of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. This anticorruption campaign is suspected of serving opportunistically the struggles between clans within the power post-Bouteflika.
No "fair trial"
"Under the current conditions of settling scores and revenge, there can not be a fair trial," said Me Sellini to the press. "We do not accept that fundamental rights are trampled" or that the justice "is politicized and made dependent on the electoral deadlines," he continued, ten days of a presidential rejected by the protesters.
"Justice can not be rendered in such conditions," added the president, "whoever has committed a wrongdoing must pay, but in front of a calm and serene justice."
All in pre-trial detention for several months, the accused tried on Monday arrived in cell vans, supervised by a strong police escort, and were extracted far from the eyes and cameras.
Among them, included two close and former prime ministers under Bouteflika: Ahmed Ouyahia, four times head of government between 1995 and 2019, including three times during the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and Abdelmalek Sellal who led the government from 2014 to 2017, according to Me Bourayou.
Historical
This is the first time since Algeria's independence in 1962 that former heads of government have been tried. Two former industry ministers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Mahdjoub Bedda (2017) and his successor Youcef Yousfi (2017-2019) also appeared on Monday.
Alongside Ali Haddad - a subsidiary of the group distributes in Algeria heavyweight Astra (subsidiary of the Italian brand Iveco) - several other businessmen appeared in the box, according to Me Bourayou.
Among others, the former vice-president of the FCE Mohamed Bairi, CEO of the Ival group owning the Algerian assembly plant of industrial vehicles Iveco, and Ahmed Mazouz, president of the eponymous group that assembles and distributes in Algeria Chinese brand vehicles.
The young Algerian automobile industry was set up in 2014, through partnerships between foreign brands and major Algerian groups, often owned by businessmen linked to Abdelaziz Bouteflika's entourage.
Despite specifications far from being respected by industry, the sector has benefited from public aid and significant tax benefits, without ever achieving its dual objective: reduce the bill of imports from Algeria and the price of vehicles on the local market.
With AFP