He had been arrested in February for publications on social networks in connection with the Hirak Prodemocracy Movement.
Le Monde with AFP
The family of an inmate of opinion in Algeria, who died in prison, brought legal action on Wednesday May 4 against the Algerian state for “manslaughter” and “non-assistance to person in danger” announced his lawyers.
Hakim Debbazi, 55, arrested in February for publications on social networks in connection with the Hirak pro -democracy movement, died on April 24 in prison, according to the Algerian League for Human Rights (Laddh).
A complaint was filed on Wednesday at the Sidi M’hamed d’Algiers court by the Helish lawyer Sadeg, a maternal aunt of the deceased inmate, demanding “a billion euros in reparation” for the family of his nephew, have indicated the lawyers in a press release. Hakim Debbazi was “found dead in troubled circumstances in Koléa prison”, near Algiers, said the defense.
Heloise Sadeg considers that “the director of the prison of Koléa, the director general of the prisons, the investigating judge, the Minister of Justice and the Algerian State” are “responsible for this national drama which has moved all Algeria in the middle of Ramadan, “said AFP M e Tarek Mektoub, one of the family lawyers.
In the press release, the lawyers deplored the “deafening silence” of the Ministry of Justice which “still has not given an explanation or made an autopsy to determine the actual causes of the death of the political prisoner”. “Everyone is concerned by the complaint, including the investigating judge who imprisoned him,” said M e mektoub.
The death of Mr. Debbazi aroused a wave of emotion in Algeria. Before Mr. Debbazi, two opinion prisoners – Mohamed Tamalt in 2016 and Kamel Eddine Fekhar in 2019 – died in detention. According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), more than 260 people are still imprisoned in Algeria in connection with the Hirak or the defense of individual freedoms.