Algeria: Extension Of Temporary Detention Of Former Minister Khalida Toumi
The Indictment Chamber of the Algiers Judicial Council decided to extend the temporary detention of former Minister of Culture Khalida Toumi, while the investigative judge of the Fifth Chamber of the Penal Economic and Financial Pole decided to inform the accused and her defense team today of the judicial offences related to Tlemcen, the capital of Islamic culture, the Diwan Riad Al-Feth and the ONDA Office of Copyrights.
According to details in the possession of “Echorouk”, the accusation chamber of the Algiers Judicial Council decided to extend the temporary detention of former minister Khalida Toumi at the request of the investigative judge, of the Fifth Chamber of the Financial and Economic Pole of the Sidi M’hamed Court, for two reasons, the first, related to the lack of readiness of 7 of the 11 expertises, It relates to the corruption files in which the accused is being pursued, and the second relates to judicial delegations carried out by the investigating judge.
In a related context, according to our sources, the civil parties represented in the public treasury were notified at the end of the week of 3 judicial offences, the first related to Tlemcen, the capital of Islamic culture, the second to the Diwan of Riad Al-Feth “OREF”, and the third to the Office of Copyright “ONDA”, to be responded to in the specified legal period.
For his part, the lawyer of the former minister, Boudjemaa Ghachir, revealed yesterday, in a statement to “Echorouk”, that his client has been in temporary detention since November 2019, that is, in the current month of June, that is she has been held in custody for 20 months, without listening to her in the matter in any file, and explained that the principles of fair trial affirm that the investigation of any accused is to a reasonable extent, and twenty months in temporary detention without listening to the accused is considered a violation of this rules and a violation of the constitutional principles related to making international agreements higher than the law, especially since Algeria has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
This covenant confirms that investigations into the accusation against any defendant must be within reasonable limits, and the accused is thereby automatically released.
Thus, Ghachir says, “Unfortunately, the accusation chamber every time decides to extend the temporary detention without informing the founding lawyers in the file to express their opinion, which violates the rules of criminal procedures”.
In addition, Ghachir affirmed that the President of the Republic lifted the criminalization of the act of management, with the exception of those related to bribery and money laundering, and that his client was followed up with actions related to management and was not legally pursued for the two misdemeanors of bribery and money laundering, but the judges hesitated to embody it on the ground due to the lack of an official law on this issue.
On November 4, 2019, the investigative advisor to the Supreme Court had ordered the temporary detention of former Minister Khalida Toumi in El-Harrach prison, after accusing her of misusing a position, wasting public money and granting undeserved privileges, which are the charges punishable by Law 01/06 against corruption and prevention of it.
