The fight against illicit speculation continues in Algeria, with new convictions handed down by the country’s courts against many people.
According to a weekly report published this Thursday, November 10 by the Minister of Justice, legal proceedings for illicit speculation against 57 people were initiated during the period from November 6 to 10.
The defendants were returned to the courts for immediate appearance, indicated the same source, who pointed out that sentences ranging from seven to twelve years in prison were pronounced against 23 of them, accompanied by fines of 500,000 to one million dinars.
The sentences in question were handed down by the courts of Biskra, Tamanrasset, Chlef, Oum El Bouaghi, Djelfa, Laghouat, and Skikda, the same statement said.
War on speculation
These measures aim to “fight against crimes that affect the national economy, particularly smuggling and illegal speculation”, concluded the press release from the Ministry of Justice.
Algeria has declared a veritable war against speculation in state-subsidized basic foodstuffs, such as cooking oil, semolina, milk in sachets, and flour.
This campaign of arrests and convictions, the largest ever in the country against speculators, was launched a little over a month ago, after yet
another shortage of edible oil.
A week ago, the Ministry of Justice announced that 37 speculators out of 38 prosecuted had been sentenced to three to fifteen years in prison with fines ranging from 700,000 to 3,000,000 dinars, for five days.
On October 27, firm prison sentences ranging from 4 to 15 years were pronounced against 56 individuals accompanied by fines between one and ten million, and this was during the period from October 23 to 27, across several ways of the country.
On October 20, sentences ranging from 7 to 20 years in prison were pronounced against 76 speculators, during the period between October 16 and 20.
Other people were sentenced on the same grounds before October 20.
More than a month after the outbreak of the war against speculation on basic foodstuffs, edible oil, semolina, and flour are available in quantities in the shops.
