Late Maâtoub's relatives demand the appearance before the court of 50 personalities as witnesses

Sources close to late Maâtoub's family told “Echorouk” that the examining magistrate of the Tizi Ouzou criminal court is to start on Saturday the complementary investigative procedure in a bid to shed all the light on the tragic assassination in 1998 of the renowned bard of the Kabylian song and poet, Maâtoub Lounès, by summoning a large number of senior public figures to testify before the court. 

• Late Maâtoub’s mother and his sister Malika are also expected to give their own testimonies before the presiding judge in order to help justice unmask the murderers of the late famous musician and poet.
• Out of the 10 defendants accused by the tribunal of premeditated murder and formation of an armed terrorist group, 8 of them are still in the run and will probably be tried in absentia.
• The judge in charge of the complementary inquiry stressed the necessity of summoning 50 main witnesses in addition to several experts to pave the way for a fair and equitable trial.
• Late Maâtoub’s family members, who are determined to expose the “real culprits” who were behind the cowardly assassination of their son Lounès in June 1998, have been eagerly demanding the appearance before justice of not less than 50 witnesses including Saïd Saâdi, the leader of the RCD party, the current culture Minister Khalida Toumi, the former general manager of the Algerian Television, Hamraoui Habib Chawki, the former GSPC chieftain Hassan Hattab, Rachid Aissat, advisor to the presidency, the military commander of the Tizi Ouzou region as well as Ahmed Djedai, the former first secretary of the FFS party and many others.
• If everything goes according to schedule, the trial of Maâtoub’s murderers will probably be held next September, according to reliable sources.