A deputy has been stripped of his mandate by the Algerian Parliament following revelations about his past involvement in the Foreign Legion in France, the former colonial power.
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Parliament announced Wednesday evening in a press release that it had "
decided by the majority of its members to strip Mohamed Bekhadra of his mandate as deputy
", during a vote behind closed doors.
Member of the Algerian National Front (FNA), a small formation which is not part of the majority, Mohamed Bekhadra was elected deputy of the Algerian community abroad in the constituency of Marseille, during the legislative elections of June 2021.
Citing a report by the parliament's legal committee, local media reported in April that Mohamed Bekhadra had served in the Foreign Legion and fought in several African countries in the Sahel on behalf of France before being naturalized French in 2006.
"Loyalty to a Foreign State"
The report, which AFP was able to consult, concludes that the deputy "
was not qualified to stand as a candidate
" in the elections.
According to the text, "
the fact that the deputy has acknowledged having served in a foreign army with the rank of corporal
" means that his "
loyalty goes to a foreign state
".
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Mohamed Bekhadra defended himself from any offense.
"
I cannot be stripped of my mandate simply because I served as a military nurse with a short-term contract in a foreign army
," he said.
“
I turned this page 15 years ago, I did not betray my country because no law prohibits what I did.
»
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Mohamed Bekhadra, 50, claims to have joined the Foreign Legion at the age of 29 “
out of imperative necessity so as not to be expelled because I was an illegal immigrant
”.
The Foreign Legion is an elite unit of the French army of more than 9,000 men, which can be joined by recruits aged 17 to 39 from all over the world.
After several years, or in the name of the "
blood shed
" in combat, the "
white caps
" can become French.
Since the revelations about his past, Mohamed Bekhadra had found himself in an untenable position, his service in an army unit of the former colonial power being very frowned upon in Algeria.
Sixty years after the independence of Algeria, the "
memorial file
" remains a source of tension between the two countries.
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Paris is working to renew relations with Algiers, after a crisis fueled by remarks by President Emmanuel Macron in October, accusing the
Algerian "
politico-military " system of maintaining a "
memorial rent
" around the war of independence of Algeria.
