The International League Against Arbitrary Detention calls on the Algerian Government to take all necessary measures to implement Opinion No. 58/2023 of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning Azzedine Maache, calling on Algeria to immediately release Azzedine Maache and grant him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.
Read the full WGAD opinion on Azzedine Maache (Algeria) : Opinion n°58/2023.
AN AMAZIGH POET AND ACTIVIST ARRESTED BY THE POLICE AND CONVICTED FOR PUBLISHING FALSE INFORMATION
Azzedine Maache was born on 8 May 1973, and is a national of Algeria. Mr. Maache is Amazigh, and lives in the town of Batna, in a Berber-speaking region of eastern Algeria inhabited by the Chaouis, an ethnic group belonging to the Amazigh. On various occasions, he has taken part in peaceful demonstrations supporting the cultural rights of the Amazigh people and democracy in Algeria, movements that have been repressed by the Algerian Government since 2020. He also writes Berber poetry to promote Amazigh culture.
In 2019, Mr. Maache was first arrested for wearing the Amazigh emblem during a demonstration, following which he was accused of undermining territorial unity. However, he was acquitted.
On 14 September 2021, Mr. Maache was again arrested by police officers in the area where he lived, before his house was raided. After being held at an unknown location for several days, Mr. Maache was brought before a judge on 22 September 2021. He was then charged with various offences, ranging from undermining the territorial unity of the country to various terrorist crimes.
On 7 July 2022, Mr. Maache was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for, among other things, undermining public order and security by publishing false information. Following Mr. Maache's appeal against this decision on 13 November 2022, he was acquitted of certain charges and his sentence was reduced to 7 years' imprisonment. At the time of the source's communication to the Working Group, Mr. Maache was being held in Bordj Bou Arreridj prison, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision, to which he had appealed his conviction.
Although asked by the Working Group to respond to these allegations, the Government did not do so.
ARRESTED WITHOUT WARRANT, SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE AND DETAINED INCOMMUNICADO
Firstly, at the time of his arrest on 14 September 2021, no arrest warrant was presented to Mr. Maache, nor was he informed of the reasons for his arrest. Mr. Maache was only informed of these reasons on 22 September 2021. The Working Group therefore concluded that articles 3 and 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 9 (1) and (2) of the Covenant had been violated.
Moreover, during the first 9 days of his detention, during which he was interrogated, Mr. Maache was held secretly in police custody, without being able to contact his family or a lawyer. This detention ended on 22 September 2021, the day he was due to appear before the judge. The Working Group therefore considered that Mr. Maache's right to be brought before a judicial authority promptly after his arrest had been violated, under article 9(3) of the Covenant.
Furthermore, the Working Group also considered that this situation of incommunicado detention had prevented Mr. Maache from challenging the lawfulness of his detention before a judicial authority, in violation of article 9(4) of the Covenant. The Working Group also noted that these circumstances amounted to enforced disappearance, a particularly serious form of arbitrary detention.
Finally, Mr. Maache's family was only allowed to visit him for thirty minutes a week from October 2021 to July 2022, which was then reduced to fifteen minutes every fortnight from July 2022. The Working Group recalled that such restrictions could give rise to violations of article 9(3) and (4) of the Covenant.
In view of these violations, the Working Group concluded that Mr. Maache's arrest and detention lacked a legal basis, rendering his detention arbitrary under category I.
DETAINED FOR HAVING EXERCISED HIS RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY, ASSOCIATION AND EXPRESSION
The source considered that Mr. Maache was arrested and detained because of his participation in peaceful demonstrations promoting the rights of the Amazigh people and democracy in Algeria, as well as because of the publication of his Berber poems. The Working Group considered that these allegations were well-founded, and therefore concluded that Mr. Maache had been arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression, in violation of article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and article 19 of the Covenant. In addition, the Working Group considered that Mr. Maache had also been arrested for exercising his rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association through his participation in various demonstrations, in violation of article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 21 and 22 of the Covenant.
Finally, Mr. Maache was - among other things - charged with the crime of membership of a terrorist group on the basis of article 87 bis of the Criminal Code. In this respect, the Working Group reiterated its concerns regarding this article which, because it defines the term 'terrorism' too vaguely, can be used to prohibit the peaceful exercise of fundamental rights. In particular, the Working Group pointed out that this article did not comply with the principle of legality, protected by article 15 of the Covenant.
In view of these violations of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by international law, the Working Group therefore considered the arrest and detention of Mr. Maache to be arbitrary within the meaning of category II.
VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL, SUBJECTED TO INHUMAN AND DEGRADING TREATMENT
Mr. Maache was questioned after his arrest without the assistance of his lawyer, and was not informed of his right to legal assistance or his right not to answer the police's questions. He was also deprived of his right to a lawyer when he appeared before the Public Prosecutor and the investigating judge at his first appearance before a judicial authority on 22 September 2021. In these circumstances, the Working Group considered that Mr. Maache had been deprived of his right to prepare his defence properly, in violation of article 14 of the Covenant.
In addition, Mr. Maache was held incommunicado for the first 9 days of his detention, where his interrogation in the absence of a lawyer resulted in severe psychological pressures. The confessions that Mr. Maache made under these conditions were then used against him during the legal proceedings against him. The Working Group recalled that torturing a detainee to obtain information was contrary to article 14(3)(g) of the Covenant and articles 2 and 15 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Thus, the Working Group considered that in these circumstances, Mr. Maache's rights not to be compelled to confess guilt and to a fair trial, protected by article 14 of the Covenant and articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, had been violated.
Accordingly, the Working Group found that the violations of Mr. Maache's right to a fair trial were of such gravity as to render his detention arbitrary within the meaning of category III.
DEPRIVED OF HIS FREEDOM BECAUSE OF HIS SOCIAL AND ETHNIC ORIGIN, AND DUE TO HIS POLITICAL OPINIONS
The source claimed that Mr. Maache was arrested because of his activism and his membership of the Amazigh ethnic minority. The Working Group recalled that Mr. Maache had already been arrested in 2019 during a peaceful demonstration for wearing the symbol of the Amazigh people, and also stressed that it had already had to rule on similar cases of arbitrary detention in Algeria. In this light, the Working Group considered that Mr. Maache had been arrested and detained for discriminatory reasons, in particular his social and ethnic origin, as well as his political opinions. The Working Group therefore considered that articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 (1) and 26 of the Covenant had been violated.
Accordingly, the Working Group found that Mr. Maache's detention was arbitrary within the meaning of category V.
CONCLUSIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION
In light of the foregoing, the United Nations Working Group against Arbitrary Detention considered that Azzedine Maache's detention was arbitrary and fell into categories I, II, III and V because his deprivation of liberty was contrary to articles 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, 14, 19, 21, 22 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Working Group considered that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release Azzedine Maache immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.
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