Said Bouteflika, Athmane Tartag, Mohamed Mediene, And Louiza Hanoune Will Be Finally Tried

The Military Investigative Judge ended his hearing on the subject of the former intelligence chief, Mohamed Mediene, the former intelligence coordinator General Bachir Tartague, and the General Security of the Labor Party, Louisa Hanoune, in the case of “conspiracy which aimed at undermining the authority of a military commander”, and “conspiring to change the regime”, as the file will be transferred to the services that are assigned to determine the date of the hearing and inform the defense of the accused of the procedure.

Echorouk sources said that the military investigative judge decided to limit the hearing to the four accused after they were merged into one file and facing unified charges. This result was reached after hearing them in the first and second sessions. It is now decided to refer the case officially to the Department which determines the date of the session, ie the “scheduling section”, and informing the defense of the accused at the same time of the procedure.

According to the same sources, the Military Investigative Judge during the second hearing on the “subject” did not bring any charges against the accused, but the charges were proved. The first is related to “the crime of conspiracy which aimed at prejudice to the authority of a military commander”, which an act that is punishable by article 284 of the Military Judiciary Law And the second, with 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment. The second charge is “conspiracy to change order”, the act is punishable by article 77 of the Penal Code which is “capital punishment”.

“The military judge did not submit new charges against Said Bouteflika, Tartague and Toufik, while continuing the investigation. He also maintained the charges against the three defendants, who were charged with pre-trial detention, which are preliminary charges that were issued by the Military investigative judge as a first stage, based on the minutes of judicial records of the intelligence services, which followed the same procedures that are used in the civil judicial authorities, after ascertaining the “conspiracy of the accused against the military institution, and trying to carry out a coup and conspiracy against the authority of the state”.

The Chamber of Indictment at the military court of Balida had supported the decision not to release the accused, which was issued by the Military Investigation Judge. After the deadline for filing the request for the release of the defense of Toufik, Said Bouteflika, Tartague and Luiza Hanoune, last Sunday, June, 22, after examining the files of those concerned accompanied by guarantees of compliance in the same judicial body whenever necessary. On the same evening, the Military Investigation Judge informed the detainees, who are concerned with his decision, which is refusing their release, because of the serious charges that they face, requiring their temporary imprisonment.

On Monday, June 23, the detainees appealed the decision of the examining magistrate in the Chamber of Indictment at the military court in Blida, which had previously rejected the defense request for the resumption of the order of imprisonment in last May due to the heavy charges of the four accused who were arrested respectively on last 4 and 9 May.

On the other hand, the Defense Authority of Louiza Hanoune submitted a third request for the release of the general security of the Labor Party, accompanied by a full medical file explaining the deterioration of her health situation, but the court stuck to the decision to reject the release of Hanoune on bail.