Bouteflika is buried alongside the heroes of the independence war in Algeria
The former Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who died Friday, will be buried on Sunday in the Martyrs Square in the Al-Alia cemetery in the capital, Algiers, dedicated to the heroes of the war of independence, but he will not receive all the honoring ceremonies as his predecessors.
Bouteflika, who stepped down under street pressure in 2019 after 20 years in power, died Friday at the age of 84 at his medically equipped residence in Zeralda in western Algiers, where he had been living in isolation for two and a half years.
It is scheduled to be buried after the afternoon prayer, according to what was announced by state television.
In the Martyrs' Square in this cemetery lie all his ancestors, along with great figures and martyrs of the War of Independence (1954-1962).
Since the announcement of his death, which provoked embarrassing reactions from the authorities, there has been uncertainty about Bouteflika's burial place and the organization of the ceremony.
Bouteflika's health deteriorated and he became unable to speak as a result of a stroke in 2013, and he was forced to resign on April 2, 2019, after two months of mass demonstrations of a popular movement rejecting his candidacy for a fifth consecutive term.
After hours of hesitation and silence in the absence of an official response, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was prime minister under Bouteflika, issued a statement on Saturday afternoon declaring the flags at half-mast for "three days" in honor of "former Mujahid President Abdelaziz Bouteflika."
The deceased former presidents received burial ceremonies with all honoring ceremonies, similar to the first president of Algeria after independence, Ahmed Ben Bella (1963-1965), for whom an official funeral was held after his death in April 2012.
The third Algerian president, Chadli Bendjedid (1979-1992), who stands behind the implementation of democracy in institutions, also had a burial ceremony with all honoring ceremonies in October 2012, with eight days of national mourning declared after his death.
In an indication of the confusion of the authorities, the official media contented themselves with mentioning the news of Bouteflika's death briefly without dedicating any program to him, as it did upon the death of his predecessors.
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