Neghza, Sahli and Hamadi Placed Under Judidical Control

Algiers- On Tuesday evening, August 13, the indictment chamber of the Algerian Judicial Council upheld the decision of the investigating judge of the Third Chamber of the National Economic and Financial Penal Court in Sidi M’hamed, regarding the status of former candidates wishing to run for the September 2024 presidential elections under the judicial control procedure, as it rejected the Public Prosecution’s appeal to the same judicial body.

Echorouk sources revealed that the defence team argued strongly before the indictment chamber of the Algiers Judicial Council, to acquit its clients while providing guarantees that the accused would appear before the investigating judge of the third chamber of the economic and financial penal pole, under the stipulated legal procedures.

After the deliberations, at about 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 13, the indictment chamber issued its decision to uphold the decision of the investigating judge for the economic and financial pole and to reject the Public Prosecution’s appeal to the same judicial body, that, to place the defendants running for the 2024 presidential elections, under the judicial control procedure pending the completion of the investigation and referring all defendants to public trial.

On August 5, the Public Prosecutor at the National Economic and Financial Criminal Court in Sidi M’hamed appealed before the indictment chamber of Algiers Judicial Council, the decision to place the candidates for the September 2024 presidential elections under judicial supervision, namely “Belkacem Sahli”, “Abdelhakim Hamadi” and “Saida Neghza”, under judicial supervision, and asked the indictment chamber to place the defendants in temporary detention pending the completion of the investigation under the opening request it submitted during the launch of the investigation.
On Saturday night, August 4, the investigating judge in the third chamber of the Economic and Financial Criminal Court in Sidi M’hamed, Algiers, ordered that these individuals be placed under judicial supervision, in the case of buying the signatures of elected officials in exchange for obtaining their recommendation to run for the presidential elections. He also ordered that 68 defendants be placed in temporary detention.

The defendants were charged with heavy misdemeanours related to: “granting an undeserved advantage, exploiting influence, offering cash donations or promising to give them to obtain or attempt to obtain votes, misuse of office, receiving cash gifts or promises to grant electoral votes, and fraud,” pending for what the indictment chamber of the Algiers Judicial Council will decide in the current case.