Christophe Gleizes Holds Macron’s Administration Responsible For Not Benefiting From The Pardon

The president of the France-Algeria Association, Ms. Ségolène Royal, sparked off a resounding political scandal, which involved the political  exploitation by the French authorities of the case of the French sports journalist sentenced in Algeria to seven years in prison, after being proven guilty of supporting and praising terrorism.

Ms. Royal stated that her meeting with the French national in his prison last Friday in Kolea, west of the Algerian capital, revealed great resentment from Christophe Gleizes and his family towards the French authorities, who exploited his case for political purposes within the framework of the escalating political and diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Paris, according to what she reported from his prison.

Ms. Ségolène Royal wrote in a tweet on her “X” platform account on Tuesday, February 3rd: “.. As his family and he himself confirmed to me, Christophe Gleizes never agreed to have his name used in this strategy,” referring to the escalation with which the French authorities are dealing with the political and diplomatic crisis affecting bilateral relations, which began before Christophe Gleizes’ case started.

The French journalist and his family believed that the French authorities’ exploitation of his case in political and diplomatic squabbles with Algeria might have contributed to his deprivation of pardon privileges, according to what Ségolène Royal quoted him as saying: “This has harmed my case.” She indicated that the imprisoned national “does not want to be politically exploited, because that contradicts the spirit of the pardon request, which can only be freely submitted within the framework of respecting the court’s decision, a decision that Christophe Gleizes did not object to.”

Christophe Gleizes, who likely benefited from consulting his defense team before making such a statement, refers here to the repeated phrase from various French officials, starting with the President of the Élysée Palace, his Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, and Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, “We demand the immediate release of Christophe Gleizes,” in a blatant interference in the decisions of the sovereign Algerian judiciary.

At the same time, French officials speak of the independence of the French judiciary when it comes to the unjust imprisonment of the Algerian consular official in Paris, which Gleizes referred to as the necessity of “respecting the court’s decision.”

Royal added in her tweet: “Here’s what he (Gleizes) told me: ‘I suffer from causing problems. I don’t like to be in the spotlight,’ contrary to what has been happening for about two months now.” She added: “So let’s respect this and strive for reconciliation in the interests of our peoples without exploiting it.”

In another context, Ségolène Royal clarified that she did not criticize Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, referring to her appearance on the French television channel TF1, but rather criticized the way the French Ministry of Interior is dealing with the crisis with Algeria, which suggests that the practices of the former minister, Bruno Retailleau, are still ongoing.

She said in the same tweet: “I did not criticize Laurent Nuñez, for whom I have all respect, but rather criticized clinging to an old position and imposing conditions, whereas we should speak on equal terms between sovereign states to find solutions,” noting that France is right in its call for renewing partnerships to combat terrorism.

However, she stressed, on the other hand, Algeria’s right to resort to the measures in force in deportation operations, especially concerning the verification of the identity of the persons to be deported, and wrote: “Regarding deportation orders, effective procedures must be applied, especially nationality verification, in response to Algeria’s request to return illegal immigrants.

This is the objective of the proposed ministerial visit. And I am confident that it will lead to concrete decisions.”