Algerian Judicial Authorities Issue Life Sentences Against Food Speculators, Traffickers
Life sentences issued by the Algerian judicial services against food speculators, monopolists, and barons of trafficking with the livelihood of Algerians continued, as Dar el-Bida Court of First Instance in Algiers, issued a criminal judgment according to which it imposed a life sentence against five people in one day, March 7, and other penalties ranging between 7 and 10 years against other defendants, on charges of illegal speculation within the framework of an organized criminal group, and oil trafficking across the Algerian border to harm the national economy.
In this context, the Dar el-Bida Court of First Instance, convicted at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, five persons with sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment on charges of illegal speculation and oil trafficking across the Algerian border in the Wilaya of Tebessa (eastern Algeria, bordering Tunisia).
The details that the President of the Criminal Court session announced late on Tuesday night, the main defendants were sentenced to life, and the matter relates to a trader who smuggled 100 cans of 5 litres of oil, while three other defendants were convicted of 10 years in prison, including a wholesaler in Ain M’lila, who was under judicial control, the judge decided to deposit him in the session immediately, with four others benefiting from the complete acquittal of all charges against them.
On the same day, Tuesday, at around 3:00 pm, the same judicial authority issued a life sentence against three defendants, after they were convicted of the felony of illegal speculation within the framework of an organized criminal group, and trafficking at a degree of danger against the national economy.
The court also imposed a 7-year prison sentence against two defendants on the same charge, with an acquittal of two other defendants of the charges against them for facts related to trafficking in basic foodstuffs across the country’s land borders, according to a statement by the Algerian Judicial Council.
Algeria’s justicial authorities have vowed to strike strictly all those who manipulate the Algerians’ livelihood and will impose severe penalties on them, up to life imprisonment, after it became clear that there is conclusive evidence proving that speculation has become organized acts aimed premeditatedly at striking the stability of the state directly, as confirmed by the Minister of Justice at an earlier time so that the various judicial authorities spread across the country issue the maximum penalties against traders who are active in trafficking, speculations and monopolisation of food supplies and largely consumed commodities.
The smuggling of food and other commodities across borders also leads to negative impacts on the economic growth of the country.
