The Algerian public prosecutor's office on Monday requested a heavy three-year prison sentence against political opponent Karim Tabbou, a central figure in the protest movement born in February 2019, announced one of his lawyers.
The verdict will be delivered on December 7.
Karim Tabbou, 47, was being prosecuted for
"undermining the morale of the army"
, following statements criticizing the regime and the army in May 2019 during a rally in Kherrata (north-east), a stronghold of the movement opposed to the regime called Hirak.
To read also: Algeria: opening of the trial of Karim Tabbou, figure of the "Hirak"
Arrested on September 26, 2019, he was imprisoned for nine months before being released on parole on July 2.
The trial of Karim Tabbou, who appeared free, took place on Monday before the court in Kolea, near Algiers.
It had already been postponed on numerous occasions since the beginning of April due to the epidemic caused by the coronavirus.
The prosecutor demanded three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dinars (650 euros) against the opponent, Zoubida Assoul said on his Facebook page.
In another case, Karim Tabbou was sentenced on appeal on March 24 to one year in prison for
"attacking the integrity of the national territory"
, because of a video that appeared on his party's Facebook page in which he criticized the military's intrusion into political affairs.
Hirak and freedoms
Leader of a small opposition party not approved by the authorities, the Democratic and Social Union (UDS), Karim Tabbou is one of the best-known faces of the Hirak, if not the most popular.
His portrait was regularly brandished during the weekly demonstrations against power in Algeria until their suspension last March in connection with the health crisis.
Karim Tabbou recently returned to the forefront of the political scene by virulently reproaching French President Emmanuel Macron for his support for his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, expressed in an interview with the weekly Jeune Afrique which raised an outcry in the ranks of the Algerian opposition.
In a letter published on his Facebook page, Karim Tabbou castigated
“bad faith”
and
“political hypocrisy”
of Emmanuel Macron, accused of supporting
“an arrogant power which imprisons journalists, flouts public freedoms and submits to justice at his diktat ”.
In the midst of a health crisis, the authorities are increasing the number of detentions and prosecutions of activists, journalists and bloggers in order, according to opponents, to prevent a resumption of Hirak.
In Mostaganem (north-west), an activist, Dalila Touat, the spokesperson for the unemployed in the city, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison, without a committal warrant.
She was accused of having encouraged her fellow citizens to abstain from voting in the constitutional referendum of November 1 and for
"contempt of an official in the performance of his duties"
, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), a solidarity association with prisoners of conscience.
The constitutional revision was approved with the lowest voter turnout (23.84%) in the history of Algeria.
Some 90 people are currently imprisoned in Algeria in connection with Hirak and / or individual freedoms.
Prosecutions based, for many, on Facebook posts criticizing the authorities, according to the CNLD.
Born in February 2019 from an immense fed up with Algerians, the Hirak calls for a profound change in the "system" in place since independence in 1962. It caused the departure of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years in power.