One of the main French-speaking news sites in Algeria, Tout Sur l’Algerie (TSA), has been ordered to pay several fines, editor-in-chief Abdelhamid Guemache announced yesterday. This verdict comes against a backdrop of increasing legal proceedings and convictions targeting journalists and bloggers. The Algerian court of Sidi M’hamed on Tuesday sentenced TSA to pay three fines: 500,000 dinars (3,300 euros) for the company, 200,000 dinars (1,320 euros) for its publication director, and 200,000 dinars (1,320 euros) for the journalist who wrote the article at the center of the dispute, said Mr. Guemache. The prosecution had demanded on October 20 a year in prison against the latter.
If the prison sentence has not been accepted, these fines represent “too much money for TSA, which has suffered blockages and pressures in Algeria since 2017,” commented the publication director. TSA is accused by the Directorate of Large Enterprises (DGE), under the Ministry of Finance, of having published in an article “a secret document” published in 2016 on the need to reinvest 30% of the share of profits from tax exemptions granted to investors.
According to the director and founder of the media, the document in question are freely accessible and circulating on social networks, according to him, “is neither confidential nor top secret”. For having published in an article published in 2016 “a secret document” on the need to reinvest 30% of the share of profits from tax exemptions granted to investors.
