This pro-democracy Algerian student spent 14 months in preventive detention. He claims to have been assaulted “sexually and physically” by the security services.
His testimony arouses indignation in Algeria: Walid Nekkiche, a 25-year-old student recently released after spending 14 months in preventive detention, claims to have been “sexually, physically and verbally assaulted by the security services during his interrogation”, during almost a week.
“I lived through hell,” said this activist of Hirak, the pro-democracy movement, on Saturday February 6, in the French-speaking daily Liberté. “I endured a lot during these fourteen months in prison and especially the six days spent at the Ben Aknoun barracks”, known as the “Center Antar”, in Algiers, he said.
The young man was released Wednesday after being sentenced to six months in prison for “distributing and possessing leaflets to harm the interest of the country”. The prosecutor of the Dar El Beida court in Algiers on Monday requested life imprisonment against the student, who was being prosecuted for “conspiracy against the state”, “attacking the integrity of the national territory” and “inciting the population to take up arms “, very serious charges under Algerian law.
“Normalization of violence”
He was accused of belonging to the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia, an illegal separatist organization, according to Algerian media. “Fortunately, I did not break down because I was confident that the lawyers were determined and well equipped to bring down the spurious charges against me. For my parents, I had to hold out,” said Walid. Nekkiche
