The prosecutor general of Algiers delivered this Thursday, August 26 to the press the first conclusions of the preliminary investigation into the assassination of young Dajmel Bensmaïl, and announced the launch of an arrest warrant against the head of MAK Ferhat Mehenni.
The 35-year-old, originally from Miliana, had come to help the inhabitants of the region who were facing huge fires. Taken for an arsonist, he was lynched to death by the crowd and his corpse burned and desecrated in the public square, Wednesday, August 11 in Larbaâ Nath Irathen (w. Tizi-Ouzou). The case which moved all of Algeria was entrusted to the division for the fight against terrorism and organized crime of the court of Sidi M’hamed (Algiers).
According to the prosecutor, the investigations made it possible to conclude that it is about a premeditated crime and methodically planned by the Movement for the self-determination of Kabylia (MAK), classified last May “terrorist organization”. The magistrate also referred to the “supervision” of the suspects even during the assassination of young Bensmaïl.
A total of 88 suspects have been arrested, including 24 elements of the movement, and 29 others have been identified but remain at large, some of them abroad.
“They will not know peace”
International arrest warrants will be launched against them via Interpol, including MAK president Ferhat Mehenni, said the prosecutor who appealed to the states concerned to deliver him and “ensure the non-impunity of these individuals” who, according to him, “will not know peace as long as they remain pursued by justice”.
Ferhat Mehenni lives in France where he has been granted political asylum. The investigation also revealed the involvement of “the foreign element”, indicated the magistrate without further details.
Of the 88 people presented before the investigating judge, 83 were placed under arrest warrant, and four others were placed under judicial control, according to the same source.
Regarding the attitude of the police, the prosecutor again defended this security body. “We have no information on the involvement of the police. The police tried to protect the victim, but the attackers used force. On the contrary, the police are victims, moreover, the accused are also prosecuted for assaulting law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties,” he explained.
On August 18, the High-Security Council accused the MAK and the Islamist movement Rachad of being behind the latest fires that ravaged the forests of Algeria, especially in Kabylia, as well as the lynching to death of the young Djamel Bensmail.
