Latest news with #AlgiersCourtofAppeal
LeMonde
05-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
A French writer and a journalist are likely excluded from pardon measures granted by Algerian president
The silence of French authorities on the evening of Friday, July 4, after the announcement of pardons granted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appeared to confirm suspicions: Boualem Sansal was not expected to be among the 6,500 detainees released for the 63 rd anniversary of Algerian independence, celebrated on July 5. The Franco-Algerian writer, sentenced on Tuesday to five years in prison and a 500,000 dinar fine (€3,300) by the Algiers Court of Appeal, remained held at Koléa prison, where he had been incarcerated since his arrest in mid-November 2024 at the Algiers airport. The pardon decree signed by the Algerian head of state did not provide a list of the individuals to benefit from the gesture, but instead set out categories of detainees who would be excluded. One such category was "authors of attacks or plots against the authority of the state, national unity, or territorial integrity," which appeared to rule out the writer, since Algerian justice had convicted him of endangering state security, territorial integrity, and the stability of institutions. The charges stemmed from remarks made by Sansal in a filmed interview with the far-right magazine Frontières, in which he spoke about the western region of Algeria belonging to Morocco.
LeMonde
30-06-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
French sports journalist sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria
On Tuesday, July 1, the Algiers Court of Appeal will deliver its ruling regarding the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who has been detained since November 2024. But two days before that critical moment, Algerian authorities handed down a harsh sentence against another French national. In a case that had largely escaped media attention, Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sports journalist, was sentenced on June 29 by a court in Tizi Ouzou, Kabylia, to seven years of jail time with a warrant for immediate imprisonment for "glorifying terrorism" and "possessing publications for propaganda purposes harmful to national interests," Reporters Without Borders (RSF) revealed the same day in a statement. An appeal is expected to be filed on July 2, according to Salah Brahimi, head of the Tizi Ouzou bar association, who is representing the journalist. The defense counsel has 10 days to initiate the process. Contacted by Le Monde, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday morning of Monday that it was "not in a position" to comment on court rulings.
