80 defendants to appear before the court in Al Khalifa case

The president of the criminal court of Blida Antar Menouar has been appointed at the head of a group of legal experts entrusted with treating the famously known “ Khalifa” case due to restart next April, Echourouk has learnt from reliable sources.

The same defendants will be heard by the prosecutors again except those who were sentenced and didn’t appeal the decision. These later will appear as witnesses in the case in addition to those who testified in the first trial including political figures and former ministers.

Mr Brahimi has indicated to Echourouk that the witnesses should be the same as in the first trial and defence party will demand their presence if the prosecutor doesn’t do it during the second one due to take place in 2 April, 2013.

The lawyer has revealed that the reopening of “ Al khalifa” case will shed light on various truths likely to change the sentences pronounced against the former accused. Meanwhile, the main defendant Abdelmoumen Khalifa will be the great absent during the trial since his case is still pending at British judicial High Court.

To recall, 104 defendants appeared before the court of Blida in 2007 and some were sentenced to life including Abdelmoumen Khalifa while others received between 10 years imprisonment.