The Ghardaia prosecutor’s office on Tuesday ordered a year in prison and a fine of one hundred thousand dinars against the leaders of the MDS, including Fethi Ghares, the only candidate declared to the candidacy for the presidential election of 2019, and four other human rights defenders, information shared by one of their lawyers .
Hamid Farhi and Fethi Gheras, respectively coordinator of the Democratic and Social Movement (MDS) and party’s spokesman, Kadour Chouicha, vice president of the Laddh, Ahmed Mansri, human rights activist, Abdelkader Kherba, blogger, and Nadir Dabouze were prosecuted for “contempt of association”, “incitement to unarmed assembly” and “non-compliance with an administrative decision”.
The case dates back to July 2016 when the defendants, who went to Ghardaia to support the attorney Salah Dabouze, who was to appear at the “Ghardaia events”, were arrested at a cafe in the city where they were sitting and taking pictures. Sent to court, the case rebounds when, in January 2017, Hamid Farhi claims through a mail the return of his camera. It is then when the prosecutor requests the opening of a judicial information.
“There is no basis for the charges,” said the lawyers, Me Ahmine and Salah Dabouze, who also noted a “defect form”. “We do not have the right to stop them without a court decision,” they said before claiming the “relaxe” for their clients, according to our sources. The verdict is expected for June 26.
