Capital punishment was demanded on Saturday against more than 70 people tried by an Algerian court for the assassination on August 11, 2021, of a man, Djamel Bensmail, wrongly accused of pyromania in Kabylia, then ravaged by forest fires, according to local media. The man had volunteered in the village of Larbaa Nath Iran, in Tizi Ouzou prefecture, Kabylie, to help put out the fires that killed at least 90 people in less than a week in August 2021.
The defendants, who appeared before the court of Dar El Beida, in the eastern suburbs of Algiers, are prosecuted in particular for ” terrorist and subversive acts against the State and national unity ” and ” intentional homicide with premeditation “, according to the ‘charge. The prosecutor then requested a 10-year prison sentence against 25 other defendants tried for criminal acts, in particular, ” armed crowd, contempt for body constitutes and diffusion of photos and videos aiming to sow the disorder “, according to the daily Arabic-speaking El Khabar.
Beaten and slain
After hearing that he was suspected of having set fire to the forest, Djamel Bensmaïl, 38, surrendered to the police. Images relayed by social networks had shown the crowd surrounding the police van and extricating the man from the vehicle after hitting him. He was then beaten and then immolated while young people took selfies in front of the corpse.
Excerpts from videos posted by the defendants on social media, showing details of the crime, were shown during the trial which opened on Tuesday. These videos show the lynching of Djamel Bensmaïl, burned alive and stripped of his personal items, including his cell phone.
