Prison Inmate Achour Abderrahmane: “I’m innocent, I’ve been betrayed…”

Sent on an assignment mission to the Serkadji Prison, in upper Algiers, Echorouk reporters met there with several inmates with on focus Achour Abderrahmane who is serving an 18 year-long prison sentence on charges of embezzlement of 3,200 billion centimes (DA) in a murky and much-publicized affair involving several shadowy figures to the detriment of several national banks thus dealing a severe blow to the national economy.

We met Achour Abderrahmane at the prison’s library where he’s fallowing his studies behind bars after passing twice with distinction his Baccalaureate exam over the past few years.

Asked about his current unenviable situation and the manifold reasons which brought him to prison, Achour Abderrahmane willingly accepted to reply to our reporters’ queries and questions without however infringing on legal procedures.

Echorouk: After passing twice your Baccalaureate exam behind bars, we’ve heard that you have now the intention of following university law studies. Why this choice?

Achour A: I was before my incarceration not very keen to read books but since I’ve been sent to jail, I’ve become very interesting in reading books especially those dealing with law and legal matters in order to be more enlightened and more cognizant with all the legal intricacies surrounding the affair I’ve been wrongly involved in.

Echorouk: Do you want, as a result, to become a lawyer after being a prison inmate?

Achour B: No, never. My prime intention after quitting jail is to return to my company and my legal dealings. I should tell you that my prime interest in reading books pertaining to law and legal matters was motivated by the fact of being able to benefit from a conditional remission of sentence but unfortunately to no a avail up to now.

Echorouk: Frankly, can you tell us what brought you as a spin-off the prison apart from clinching the Baccalaureate exam twice, as you were before a billionaire having everything at his disposal in your former high-heeled daily life outside jail?

Achour A: A lot of positive things. Prison is a space utterly different from the outside world. Jail has allowed me to distinguish between real and fake friends. The real ones have stood with me all along my incarceration years and the others who were covertly only seeking to preserve their vested interests, have vanished into thin air because they were totally dishonest with me.

Echorouk: Do you mean that these dubious persons have betrayed you?

Achour A: Yes, absolutely. I don’t want to give their names; I leave them to myself and to history. But I should tell you that this kind of treason has affected me deeply because of all the good I bestowed upon them when I was at the head of several economic enterprises. But luckily, my family members, including my wife and my children, have always stood by me they staunchly believing in my innocence and this is of paramount importance for me.

Echorouk: After spending more than 7 years in jail, do you have any regrets?

Achour A: Of course, many regrets, you know jail remains jail and life inside a prison is harsh and difficult. I always ask myself what all this mishap occurred to me but I firmly believe that freedom is not to be offered, it is to be wrenched and my uphill battle to exonerate myself in the eyes of justice will be steadily pursued.

Echorouk: How do you still believe in justice as it clamped down on you 18 years in jail as you presume repeatedly that you’re innocent of all the charges leveled against you?

Achour A: I refuse to reply to this delicate question. No comment!

Echorouk: You are now in jail among numerous inmates from all walks of life who’d breached the law and you were previously one of those who hobnobbed with the powerful business leaders in this country. How do you feel inwardly now being confined in jail with the down and out?

Achour. A : Yes, it’s clear that you feel deeply distressed. But I should tell you that being among these ordinary people is quite more beneficial than dealing with these dubious and phonies when I was outside jail.

In jail, I became more aware of the essential importance of human values while discussing with the other prison inmates. The latter share everyone else’s ordeals and misfortunes contrary to these hypocritical big-wigs who leave you on the lurch  all of a sudden with no pangs of conscience.

Echorouk: Rumour has it, that you are being treated in jail as a VIP, is this true?

Achour. A : These are baseless allegations. I’m treated in jail on an even keel as all the other detainees and I don’t have any privilege at all. I should also point out, by the same token, that all the prisoners are being treated by the wardens in a humane and respectful manner with no glaring inequity or drift being recorded.