President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Withdraws His Complaint Against Le Monde Newspaper

The President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has withdrawn his complaint against the French newspaper Le Monde for libel, announced Tuesday lawyers Chems-eddine Hafiz and Basile Ader during the trial at the high Court of Paris.

The President of the Republic has taken this decision in a will of appeasement after the French newspaper has apologized. The case is now closed.

The president of the 17th criminal Chamber of the tribunal of high instance, in Paris, referred to a “surprise” in the opening, Tuesday, 20 June, of a libel case against the French newspaper Le Monde.

 Surprise indeed when a lawyer of President Bouteflika announced to the bar that the latter “has decided to withdraw his complaint,” for defamation against the French newspaper Le Monde after the case of the so-called Panama Papers.

“President Bouteflika has made this decision in a gesture of forgiveness, and in a spirit of appeasement. It is estimated that the French newspaper has presented its regrets in its columns, and addressed to him a letter of apology”, said the defense of the President of the Republic, Lawyer Chems-eddine Hafiz.

Under this decision, there is more legal action against the French newspaper. “This behavior honors the Algerian President,” said for his part, Christophe Bigout, lawyer for the French newspaper, which added : “For the sake of accuracy, the management of Le Monde had expressed its regrets“.

On April 4, 2016, Le Monde newspaper  had published a survey entitled “the Panama Papers,” the alleged hidden money of heads of State“. The article had been wrongly illustrated in the first page photo of President Bouteflika alongside four other international leaders.

Felt his honor violated, the President of the Republic had filed a legal complaint for defamation a few hours after the publication of the article. 

In the aftermath, the daily World had published details, but they had not managed to appease the ire of the Algerian authorities. The director of Le Monde newspaper, Jérôme Fenoglio, had sent a letter, dated Thursday, 7 April 2016, to the ex – ambassador of Algeria to France, Amar Bendjama, in which he expressed “again” its “regrets” for the unfortunate “rapprochement” with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose name “is not mentioned” in the files of Panama Papers.