80 percent of Algerian terror suspects living abroad benefit from Reconciliation

Penal courts in Algeria are postponing a large number of terror-related cases because of the problem of Algerian people living abroad involved in terror acts who want to benefit from the law on the National Reconciliation.

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• Suspects say they have the right to benefit from the Charter for the National Reconciliation while courts say they do not have any document which proves that and they are asking the suspects to bring evidences.
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• Ibrahim worked with terrorists in the 1990’s. Then, he went to Germany. A penal court postponed his case waiting for him to bring a document to prove that he has the right to benefit from the Charter.
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• He said to court the Algerian consulate in Germany told him it would take all the necessary measures. His case was over after he had got the document.
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• Chief of the cell for the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation Marwane Azzi said procedures take a long time because there is a need to be totally sure before delivering the document. “It starts by contacting the Algerian consulate in the country where the suspect lives. Then, he will have to fill out a form to be sent to Algeria’s foreign ministry. In its turn, it sends it to the justice ministry which makes sure of the suspect’s personal information. The court is in charge of sending the information to the accusation chamber. The document should pass by all those institutions once again to be delivered to the concerned suspect.”
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• “A total of 80 percent of the Algerian people living abroad involved in terror acts who applied benefited from the Reconciliation’s measures. This was done in coordination with the Algerian consulates. They had been sentenced to 20 years in prison while other people are still charged but they did not apply to benefit from the Charter. Others are wanted but their names are not mentioned in terror-related cases,” he added.
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• He also said his call is working on finding solutions for those wanted as they will be arrested once they arrive to Algeria even if they benefited from the Reconciliation.
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• The law on the National Reconciliation excluded people coming from conflict regions like Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechen and Lebanon. People prosecuted for supporting terrorism, theft and abduction benefited from partial amnesty. They benefited from the Reconciliation in terms of terror-related charges while they were trialled on the other charges. Their lawyers asked to integrate them in the Charter for the Reconciliation.