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Gerontocracy in crisis Farce algerian
The justice algerian released last January 2 to 76 detainees of the so-called Hirak (the movement, in Arabic), the great wave of protests that began on February 22, calling for a democratic opening in the country. This Tuesday was also released on the unionist Oran Kaddour Chouicha, a member of the Algerian League for the Defense of the Rights of Man (LADDH, for its acronym in French), which is in a precarious state of health. These measures could be interpreted as a gesture of approach by the new authorities, following the death on December 23, the strong man of the country, the chief of staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah. Although there are activists and observers who look at it with a lot of skepticism, such court decisions.
Abdelmayid Tebún, the president elected in the last presidential election in Algeria, on 12 December at the express wish of the authorities and against the will of millions of algerians, stated after his victory that extended a hand towards the Hirak. However, the measure decreed by the previous Government put in prison all who carry a flag amazig, remains in force. And the journalists of public and private media continue to complain of the pressure of the authorities.
Said Salhi, vice-president of the Algerian League For the Defense of the Rights of Man, indicates from Algiers: “it Is true that there is a tendency towards appeasement, but [the release of prisoners] is a measure insufficient, because they still have to produce the release in the political field and the media”.
Salhi calculates that still need to be in prison more than 70 detainees. “The figure is only approximate, because there are many arrests, especially in the interior of the country, who have not transcended to the media and have not been registered. It led to many arrests especially in the days leading up to the presidential elections of 12th of December”.
Among the released there are featured characters as the cartoonist Nime and retired general Hocine Benhadid, a 73-year-old, who had written a letter in the daily el Watan addressed to Gaid Salah where he asked that the democracy was not such a hollow word. But there are still in prison other prominent leaders of the Hirak. These include Karim Taboo, of 46 years, a spokesman of the Democratic Union and the Social (UDS), the party not legalized by the Ministry of the Interior. Its release is expected for this week.
Djilali Hadjadj, president of the Association of Algerian anti-Corruption described from Algiers the situation by resorting to a scene: “A band of gangsters robs a bank. They take many hostages and then begin to release them, but do so with an eyedropper. And stay with the hostages most precious, the ‘political’ ( Fodil Boumala, Karim Taboo, Samir Belarbi, or Abdelouhab Fersaoui, the chairman of the Meeting of Youth Action, RAJ…). In addition, some of the ‘hostages’ released, they have been only on an interim basis, continue to be imputed by the court. The sword of Damocles continues on their heads. The heist continues its course in front of a Hirak a little disoriented, but still determined”.
in spite of everything, could we talk about a change of attitude on the part of the regime in algeria? “It is a change in the continuity of the same authoritarian practices, law enforcement, and repressive,” he answers, Hadjadj.
The political scientist Adlene Mohammedi is also skeptical. From Paris, he says: “This ‘liberation’ confirms the arbitrariness that exists in the justice algerian, a righteousness that has never been independent, and today is even less. This justice has been the worst instrument of the regime of algeria: to condemn arbitrarily and at the same time innocent, oligarchs and corrupt politicians (sacrificed for the needs of the regime), acts in favour of a climate of moral disorder and confusion”.
“you have Now freed the innocent in the same circumstances that produced their arrests: in an arbitrary way. Some opponents iconic and appreciated by the protesters are still in prison. I think, above all, in Karim Taboo. The protesters continue taking to the streets know all this. The regime in algeria does everything with such a stay against the will of the people, but none of their ploys have worked so far.”
While the drip-drip of court decisions continues, hundreds of students came out to the streets this Tuesday, as every Tuesday from the 22nd of February. And the great mobilization of the Friday, as every Friday from 11 months ago, continues on its course. The Hirak is still active. This movement without a defined structure is still demanding more democracy and the release of all political detainees as a condition for the dialogue.
