Algerian President Abdemadjid Tebboune has ordered the release of 101 detainees imprisoned for calling or taking part in demonstrations as part of the Hirak protest movement, according to a presidential statement Wednesday evening July 14.
Read also: Algeria: next release of around 60 detainees imprisoned for bac fraud
President Tebboune "
decreed a pardon for the benefit of 30 detainees sentenced definitively in cases of assembly and disturbing public order
," the statement said.
The Head of State "
has also decreed additional clemency measures in favor of 71 young detainees convicted of the same acts who will be released to join their families, as of Wednesday evening
". This new gesture of clemency follows the measures "
decreed on the occasion of the celebration of the 59th anniversary of Independence Day on July 5,
" said the presidency.
On July 4, President Tebboune decided to release young detainees from Hirak, a traditional clemency measure on the eve of the celebration of the anniversary of independence. Eighteen prisoners had then been released and the operation was to continue for the others, “said the Ministry of Justice, which had not specified the number of detainees concerned. The majority of them are young people arrested in the weeks leading up to the legislative elections of June 12.
Before the announcement of the release of these 101 detainees, more than 300 people were in prison for acts related to Hirak and / or individual freedoms, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD). This is the third time in the space of two weeks that detainees have benefited from a clemency measure from the head of state.
Tuesday, Abdemadjid Tebboune ordered the release "before the end of this week" of about sixty inmates, sentenced to prison terms for fraud in the baccalaureate, a measure decided on the occasion of Aid El Kebir, a celebration religious which will be celebrated on July 20 and 21. Born in February 2019 from the popular rejection of a fifth presidential term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Hirak - a peaceful movement without real leadership - calls for a radical change in the system of governance in place since independence.