The younger brother of Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for "conspiracy" aimed at " undermining the authority of the State and the Army ". He had been arrested on may 5, 2019 in the company of two ex-bosses of the secret services, the high ranking officers, Mohamed Mediène and Othmane Tartag. According to several sources and local media, the ex-powerful special adviser would be soon caught up by the civil justice. Three "business" seem to converge to this possibility. In the first place, and after an investigation by the daily El Watan, " to the top of the State, the decision to bring them before a civil court was confirmed, since a few weeks." Citing judicial sources, the journal indicates that" there is a lot to do to judge ".
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flush Out its "position of denial"
" All the business men and the two former Prime ministers were implicated in all decisions taken, and that meant they were to be condemned [...]. His name appears in all the cases considered up to now and those who are still in training as well at the level of the supreme Court that in other jurisdictions... " explains this source in El Watan. Saïd Bouteflika, himself, remains " in a position of denial. He refuses to answer questions relating to his questioning by the men of business and which have been raised as a witness ".
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at the End of June, the former boss of the bosses, Ali Haddad, a friend of Said Bouteflika, has been sentenced to 18 year sentence for " obtaining privileges, benefits and public procurement in contravention of the laws, squandering of public funds, abuse of office, conflict of interest and corruption in government contracting ". The two ex-Prime ministers of Bouteflika, Ahmed Ouyahia, and Abdelmalek Sellal, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison while they are serving already a heavy sentence for other corruption cases.
But beyond its role as a "facilitator" or "protector" of his friends the oligarchs, some sources also point to his management policy as a special advisor to the chief of the State.
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Identify its acts of president and bis
The justice may therefore be of interest to " instructions he has given during the fourth term of his brother, in place of the latter, who was sick and alienated from the management of the affairs of the country, but also the possible usurpation of power, in the case where it is proved that he acted without the knowledge of his brother, his relationship with the businessmen who had control over sectors of activity economic, benefitting from undue advantages, but above all doing and undoing the policy of the country, including its laws, cut like a suit for them, " explains a source justice in the columns of El Watan.
as a reminder, on the same day of the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2, 2019, a group of citizens had filed a complaint against Saïd Bouteflika for " identity theft ", " forgery and use of forgery ". Justice, which has accepted the filing of a complaint, nothing more has been continued since. At his trial before the military justice, in February 2020, Saïd Bouteflika has said that he was "a counsellor with limited powers" and that he has never been the holder of power and has never usurped the functions of his brother.
The debate on the failure of the Bouteflika to govern due to his illness has been revived by one of its ex-Prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, who, in front of the judges, said the end of June : "In 2013, the former president Bouteflika was removed, and it was me who ran the country politically. "In march 2020, in another trial, said the subsidiary car, Sellal said to defend charges of corruption :" It is a matter of policy. The first one responsible, it is Bouteflika. It is necessary that it be present as a witness. The hour is serious. Of course, the president was sick, but he followed to the smallest detail everything that was going on through his brother. "
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Establish acts of obstructing justice
To his two objections – meeting and protection of the oligarchs, opaque management of the affairs of the State instead of a president crippled by the disease – be added a third : interference assumed to be of Saïd Bouteflika in the affairs of justice. According to the daily Echourrouk, the advisor, instructor of the fifth criminal chamber of the supreme Court accused officially the brother of the ousted president "breach of the partiality of employees of the judicial system "and of" obstructing the work of the judges and influence judicial decisions ".
These accusations are fed by the discovery of SMS to be sent by Said the ex-minister of Justice between 2013 and 2019, Tayeb Louh, a faithful supporter of Bouteflika in preventive detention since August, 2019, for " abuse of office ", " obstruction of justice ", " incitement to the forgery of official minutes, the incentive to bias ". The SMS accused would, according to Echourrouk, the injunctions of the brother of the president, ordering the keeper of the Seals to intervene in some affairs of justice. El Watan states that the judges have already begun their mission, " even if Saïd Bouteflika continues to hide in silence of marble, and the depressive, in order not to leave the infirmary of the military prison of Blida ".
Judge Bouteflika ? Tebboune booked
" To the highest authorities of the country, only Saïd Bouteflika is the accounting of everything that happened during the past six years. Reason for which the court of Sidi Me hamed [Alger-centre] has been seized and its roadmap clearly laid out ", reports El Watan, as the call to judge the deposed president do not cease to repeat to the rhythm of major corruption trial in recent weeks. In the Face of the reporter for France 24, Marc Perrelman, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has expressed on the matter : "I think the justice is pronounced. If the justice of the demand, it is his business, but for the moment it's not the issue. "According to Tebboune," the proven facts are not political and do not take on orders [...], it is the execution that counts ".
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