A week to the day after the trip of the chief of French diplomacy to Algiers, the reconciliation between France and Algeria is already put to the test with the detention of an Algerian consular agent in France who aroused the ire of the Algerian authorities.
The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs thundered on Saturday evening against “this new unacceptable and unspeakable development (which) will cause great damage to Algerian-French relations”.
He undertook not to “leave this situation without consequences” and “received” the French ambassador to Algeria, Stéphane Romatet, to “express (s) to live protest”.
These remarks contrast with the announcement last week by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot of “a new phase” for relations between Paris and Algiers, after an interview with his counterpart Ahmed Attaf and especially with the Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmadjid Tebboune had acted a few days earlier the end of a crisis of rare intensity, which had led the two countries to the edge of diplomatic rupture.
“We are not how to investigate. The judicial authority, which acts independently, is solely competent to decide, “reacted a French diplomatic source on Sunday to AFP.
For his part, the Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez assured Europe 1/CNews that the investigations had been carried out “in an extremely rigorous manner”.
Three men, including one employee in one of the consulates of Algeria in France, were indicted Friday in Paris for arrest, kidnapping, forcible confinement or arbitrary detention followed by liberation before the 7th day, in relation to a terrorist enterprise, according to the National Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT).
In this case which concerns the opponent of the Algerian regime Amir Boukhors, influencer nicknamed Amir Dz, these men are also prosecuted for association of criminal terrorist criminals. They were placed in pre -trial detention.
“There is no political instruction received by police numbers, in this case, mine, under the authority of justice,” also said Laurent Nuñez, adding that it was “normal that justice goes to the end and stops the alleged perpetrators” of sequestration.
With the French ambassador, Algiers protested on “the form” and on “the substance” of the case, notably accusing the absence of “notification by the diplomatic channel”.
Vermoulu argument
In addition, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced “the Vermoulu and Farfelu argument” of the French Ministry of the Interior, castigating an “inadmissible judicial cabale” based “on the mere fact that the mobile phone of the accused consular agent would have limited around the address of the home of the vigorousness” Amir Boukhors.
The French Ministries of Justice and the Interior, contacted by AFP, did not comment.
This Algerian influencer, who has lived since 2016 in France since 2016, has obtained political asylum in 2023. His country claims it to judge him.
Algiers issued nine international arrest warrants against him, accusing him of scam and terrorist offenses. In 2022, French justice refused its extradition.
41 years old and followed by more than a million subscribers on Tiktok, Amir Dz was the target “of two serious assaults, one in 2022 and another on the evening of April 29, 2024”, day of his abduction in the south suburbs of Paris (Val-de-Marne), before being released the next day, according to his lawyer Eric Plouvier.
Following the indictments of the three men, including the consular agent, Me Plouvier spoke of a “state affair” and the French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau spoke of “perhaps” an “act of foreign interference”.
However, a source close to the file in France called on prudence on these three indictments on Saturday, fearing that the investigation does not lead to “an empty file”, against suspects who are only fuses.
For the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “this judicial turning point, unprecedented in the Annals of Algerian-French relations, is not the fruit of chance”.
He occurs “for torpedoing the process of recovering bilateral relations agreed between the two heads of state during their recent telephone interview,” deplored this ministry, demanding the “immediate” release of his consular agent.
Algiers insists on the diplomatic immunity of this agent, but according to a French source close to the file, he has a service passport and not a diplomatic passport.
This case comes as France called for a gesture of leniency to release the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, sentenced to Algeria to 5 years in prison, in particular for violation of the integrity of the territory.
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