Algeria: Saïd Bouteflika sentenced to two years in prison for obstructing justice

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The brother of ex-President Bouteflika, Saïd, was sentenced to two years in prison for “obstructing the proper conduct of justice” and “abuse of office” in particular, the official APS agency reported on Tuesday. He appeared before the criminal court of Dar El Beida, in Algiers.

The younger brother of the late ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Saïd Bouteflika, was sentenced Tuesday evening, October 12 to two years in prison by an Algerian court for “obstructing the proper conduct of justice,” said the official APS agency. .

The prosecution with required seven years firm against Saïd Bouteflika who appeared before the criminal court of Dar El Beida, east of Algiers where he was prosecuted with other former officials for “inciting falsification of official documents”, ” abuse of office “,” obstruction of justice “,” incitement to partiality of justice “and” contempt of court “.

The main accused in this trial is the former Minister of Justice Tayeb Louh. He was sentenced to six years in prison while the former boss of the bosses, businessman Ali Haddad, was sentenced to two years, the agency said.

Former Justice Ministry Inspector General Tayeb Belhachemi was also sentenced to two years in prison. The court acquitted six other defendants.

Saïd Bouteflika should stay in prison

Saïd Bouteflika, 63, was arrested in May 2019 along with three co-accused and sentenced in September of the same year to 15 years’ imprisonment in a flash trial before a military court for “conspiracy against the army “, who then publicly demanded the departure of President Bouteflika to get out of the crisis born of the Hirak, the anti-regime protest movement.

On January 2, 2021, a military appeal court acquitted Saïd Bouteflika, but being under a committal warrant for “influence peddling”, he was transferred from a military prison to a civilian prison.

Saïd Bouteflika was the influential adviser to his brother Abdelaziz, who died on September 17. Cited in other cases under investigation, such as the financing of the campaign of the aborted fifth term, he should remain in prison even having already served the two-year sentence imposed on him on Tuesday.

Since the forced resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the beginning of April 2019, under the pressure of the demonstrations of the Hirak and the army, the Algerian justice has placed in preventive detention or sentenced several political leaders as well as powerful businessmen close to him, in particular for acts of corruption.

With AFP