Algeria: Saïd Bouteflika returns to justice

Text by: RFI Follow

They are back in court in Algeria with the appeal trial this Sunday, February 9, of the brother and ex-adviser of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, two former intelligence bosses and the secretary general of the Parti des Workers (PT).

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The trial is held before a military court in Blida, about fifty kilometers from Algiers. At first instance, on September 25, Saïd Bouteflika, General Toufik, General Tartag and Louisa Hanoune were each sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiracy against military and state authority.

They have been incarcerated since May and are accused of having held a meeting to destabilize the military high command in late March. The army then called for the departure of former president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, challenged by the street and who finally resigned, in April.

Before their arrest, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, then powerful chief of the army staff - deceased since the end of the year - had publicly denounced the holding of suspicious meetings for plotting.

The defense of the four accused indicates that they will continue to plead " not guilty ".

" The file is empty and we are going to plead the acquittal, " said Maître Miloud Brahimi, one of General Toufik's lawyers.

Another of his lawyers, Maître Farouk Ksentini, said he approached the trial with serenity since, according to him, the atmosphere had changed since the first trial.

At first instance, the trial lasted two days and was held in the absence of the journalists. It was only open to lawyers and the families of the accused.

Three other people, tried in absentia, had been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

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• Algeria
• Justice

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