Failed assassination attempt against President Abdellaziz Bouteflika in 2007: “Death sentence for the principal defendant”

The main defendant among the 12 accused of perpetrating a suicide-bombing targeting the President of the Republic, Mr Abdellaziz Bouteflika, on September 6th 2007 in the eastern city of Batna has been sentenced by the Batna criminal court to death following a trial which lasted several days.

• The principal defendant, Walid Zeghina, 28 years old, is a repentant terrorist who had benefited from a national reconciliation program in 2006.
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• He was found guilty of premeditated manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and illegal possession of explosives in a public place.
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• His eleven other co-defendants were sentenced for their part to between 3 and 15 years imprisonment. All of them acknowledged the facts during the court’s hearings.
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•  The suicide-bombing which killed 24 people and injured another 172 in Batna in 2007 was masterminded by the terrorist  chieftain of the so-called “Death squadron”, Ali Mehira, also known as Abou Rawaha, according to the avowals made by the defendants during the trial.