Algeria: Hakim Debbazi’s family files a complaint against the State

Following the death in prison of pro-Hirak and anti-system activist Hakim Debbazi in mysterious circumstances, the victim’s family announced on Wednesday that they had filed a complaint against the Algerian state. The case of Hakim Debbazi had moved all of Algeria, which saw in it a new demonstration of the authoritarian drift of the military regime.

He was 55 years old, Hakim Debbazi, died on April 24 in prison, without the reasons for this death being clearly established. The Algerian government has taken refuge in silence, clearly seeking to minimize the death of this umpteenth pro-Hirak activist, in “provisional detention” without the shadow of a trial.

The victim’s family has therefore decided to file a complaint against the Algerian state for “manslaughter” and “non-assistance to anyone in danger”, announced his lawyers.

The 50-year-old father of 3 children was arrested in February for posts on Facebook in which he supported the Hirak, the apolitical popular movement of an entire people which had precipitated the fall of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika but which had subsequently favored the rise of another military junta candidate, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to replace him.

The deceased’s aunt, lawyer Heloise Sadeg, who filed the complaint with the Sidi Mhamed court in Algiers, is claiming “one billion euros in compensation” for Hakim Debbazi’s family.

Hakim Debbazi was “found dead in troubled circumstances in the prison of Koléa”, near Algiers, said the defense of the former prisoner, in a press release.

“The director of Koléa prison, the general director of prisons, the examining magistrate, the Minister of Justice and the Algerian State” are all “responsible for this national drama which has moved all of Algeria in the middle of of Ramadan” for the lawyer and aunt of the victim, indicated indicated Me Tarek Mektoub, one of the lawyers of the family, in a statement to Afp.

“Everyone is affected by the complaint, including the investigating judge who imprisoned him,” said Me Mektoub. Activists, party leaders, human rights organizations did not fail to denounce the death of Hakim Debbazi which shook Algeria as a whole.

The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH) indicated that a request for the provisional release of Debbazi, introduced a few weeks ago because of his “worrying state of health”was dismissed by the court.

All had demanded that light be shed on the circumstances that led to the death of the activist, but also on his arrest deemed abusive. Although he was imprisoned for making pro-Hirak Facebook posts, he only had 91 friends on his list.

The pro-Hirak leader, Karim Tabbou, also persecuted by the Algerian authorities, spoke about the death in prison of Mr. Debbazi, which later earned him yet another arrest.

The lawyers for the deceased deplored the “deafening silence” of the Ministry of Justice, which “has still not given an explanation or carried out an autopsy to determine the real causes of the death of the political detainee”.

Since the accession to power of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algeria has become the scene of strong and accentuated repression against any form of criticism of power. Before Hakim Debbazi, two other prisoners of conscience died in detention.

In May 2019, human rights defender Kamel Eddine Fekhar, in pre-trial detention, died in Blida hospital where he had been transferred in a comatose state. In December 2016, journalist Mohamed Tamalt, who was serving a two-year sentence, died after being evacuated to Bab El Oued hospital.

According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), Algeria still has nearly 300 people imprisoned and linked to the Hirak or the defense of individual freedoms.