By: D.D.
The judge in charge of the case of Abdou Semmar and Merouane Boudiab at Bir Mourad
Rais’ Court of Justice in Algiers has decided to release the two journalists for further
investigation.
The two journalists Abdou Semmar, Chief Manager of the web news media Algerie
Part, and Merouane Boudia, working for the same news website, have been
released by the judge of the court of justice of Bir Mourad Raïs district (Algiers) on
Thursday night, after a trial that has lasted six hours, for ordering further
investigation. The news was largely reported by local media. The two journalists of
Algerie Part were arrested by the gendarmerie on last 23 October in Algiers over
charges of “Threats, insults and invasion of privacy”, filed by the Wali of Algiers,
Abdelkader Zoukh, and the manager of Ennahar TV, Anis Rahmani accusing them of
defamation by means of dissemination, threats and invasion of privacy. Abdou
Semmar and Merouane Boudiab have been jailed in El Harrach prison for about 16
days.
Addressing the reporters present on the spot after the trial, Mr. Hamaili Boubaker
Esseddik, one of the defense lawyers, explained that “the relaxation for further
investigation is a verdict likely to satisfy both sides of the case. To pronounce an
acquittal or a sentence would have been very difficult”, he added.
It is worth noting that the two detainees have been defended by about thirty wellknown lawyers among them, Mustapha Bouchachi, Abdelghani Badi, Mokrane Ait
Larbi and Zoubida Assoul. Furthermore, the opposition political party (FFS) and the
Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights have mobilised lawyers to defend
the two journalists.
