The former leader of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), the main trade union center in Algeria, Abdelmadjid Sidi Said, was imprisoned on Thursday, May 12 after being heard in “corruption cases”. He was one of the most enthusiastic defenders of ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
An investigating judge at the court of Sidi M’hamed, in Algiers, ordered Thursday evening, May 12, the temporary detention of the former secretary-general of the UGTA.
Shortly before, Abdelmadjid Sidi Said also appeared with his two sons before the public prosecutor of this same jurisdiction who “heard them on corruption cases”. The investigating judge also ordered the placement in pre-trial detention. of one of the sons, the second was placed under judicial supervision.
At the head since 1997 of the former single union and only trade union organization considered representative by the authorities, Sidi Said left office in June 2019 in the midst of Hirak, the anti-regime protest movement, which forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in April 2019.
Abdelmadjid Sidi Said was contested by workers as he had long been one of the most enthusiastic defenders of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who died in September 2021.
He was for months, alongside the main employers’ organization, one of the main leaders of the supporters of a fifth term of Bouteflika, a prospect which brought thousands of Algerians to the streets from February 22, 2019.
Since the resignation of Bouteflika, the Algerian justice has been remanded in custody or sentenced, in particular for acts of corruption, dozens of political leaders and powerful businessmen reputed to be close to the former head of state.
