Blue Fin Tuna affair of Annaba: “The Appeals Court hands down its final verdict”

The Appeals Court of the city of Annaba in far eastern Algeria rendered on Wednesday July 14th its long-awaited final verdict in the trial of ten defendants involved in the trafficking of a huge amount of blue fin tuna in the region. 

• Justice sentenced an Algerian ship-owner to 3 years in prison while 7 co-defendants including 5 Turkish nationals as well as a Secretary General and a Manager at the Fisheries and Sea resources Ministry received a 2 – year prison sentence on charges of involvement in this blue fin tuna trafficking affair.
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• Another Algerian ship-owner got for his part a one year prison sentence on similar charges.
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• The appeals court also inflicted on the defendants almost 1.5 billion dinars as a fine representing the financial loss sustained by the Algerian Customs services and the Public Treasury.
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• The 3 Turkish fishing boats were also confiscated in line with a previous decision taken by the Annaba Magistrates’ court dealing with criminal matters in its first ruling issued last April.
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• The 10 defendants brought to the tribunal’s dock were tried for illegal fishing of blue fin tuna inside Algerian territorial waters, contraband, influence peddling and tax evasion.
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• This high-profile affair goes back to the summer of the year 2009 when 3 Turkish tuna boats were hailed inside Algerian territorial waters off the coast of Annaba as they were transferring illegally over 210 tonnes of blue fin tuna.
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