The Military Court of Appeals in the Algerian wilaya of Blida wished 15 years imprisonment for Said Bouteflika, brother of former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and Major General Mohamed Medine - known as General Tawfiq - and Othman Tarrag.
The same court also ordered the release of Labor leader Louisa Hanoune after serving nine months in prison.
Prosecution requests
On Monday, the Military Appeals Council prosecutor requested a 20-year prison sentence for Said Bouteflika, former intelligence officials, and Louisa Hanoun, on charges of "prejudice the authority of the army and the conspiracy against the state's authority," according to lawyers.
On Sunday, the trial of the four accused, imprisoned since last May, began after the appeal was accepted for the 15-year prison sentences issued on September 25 by the Military Court in Blida, south of the Algerian capital.
Convicted
Among the convicts today is retired Major General Mohamed Median - better known as General Tawfiq - the former head of the DRS, which was the name given to the intelligence service between 1990 and 2015.
Given the great powers he had enjoyed over 25 years of his leadership of the apparatus, some believed that he had transformed intelligence into a "state within a state."
In addition to General Tawfiq, the main accused, Said Bouteflika, 62, an advisor to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, since 1999, has been convicted, who has turned into the actual strongman in the presidential palace without constitutional powers, especially after his brother's health deteriorated.
Al-Saeed's strength increased to the point of being considered a "second president" after President Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 that crippled his movement and made him unable to speak.
As for the third convict in this trial, he is retired Major General Othman Tarrag, formerly Assistant General Tawfiq, and succeeded him to the post after his dismissal in 2015, who took charge of coordinating security services after restructuring and appending him to the presidency. He left his post after Bouteflika resigned.
In addition to Louisa Hanoun, the three were imprisoned in May 2019 in a case related to a meeting attended by Said Bouteflika, Medin, Tarq and Hanoun on March 27, 2019, to draw up a plan to "dismiss the deceased chief of staff" Lieutenant-General Ahmed Qayed Saleh the day after he publicly demanded the resignation of the president of the republic out of the crisis That started with the start of the popular movement on February 22 of the same year.