1995 attacks in Paris –
An author asks to be under house arrest
In the absence of pass for Algeria, one of the authors of the 1995 attacks in Paris asked to be under house arrest.
An audience sketch made on November 13, 2003 at the Paris Assize Court, representing the French of Algerian origin Boualem Bensaïd, his lawyer Laurent Pasquet, and the sister of a victim of the attack against the RER Saint-Michel of July 25, 1995, Nadège Girier Dufournier, speaking at the helm.
AFP
One of the authors of the 1995 attacks in Paris, authorized by French justice to leave prison subject to being expelled to Algeria, asked on Saturday to be under house arrest pending the delivery of a pass by Algiers, we learned from his lawyer.
Boualem Bensaid, a 57 -year -old Algerian, is still detained at the Ensisheim penitentiary center in Alsace (east), despite a decision rendered on July 10 by the Paris Court of Appeal, which allowed his release from August 1 provided that he was transferred to Algeria.
A request for the pass was sent to the Algerian consulate in Strasbourg on July 31, unanswered at this stage, according to the request for placement under house arrest addressed to the Minister of the Interior and consulted by AFP.
“This detention is abusive”
The two countries have been going through a deep diplomatic crisis for over a year, and Algiers notably rejects expulsion procedures from France.
“This detention is abusive and dishonors those responsible for it,” denounces Boualem Bensaid’s lawyer, Romain Ruiz, in a press release. “Neither Boualem Bensaid nor any human being should bear such a situation of lawlessness, in which politics holds justice as it is.”
“This is why, pending the release of this situation, we have officially asked that Boualem Bensaid be placed under house arrest,” he adds, considering that “nothing prevents” such an administrative decision on the law.
Boualem Bensaid found in particular guilty of having laid the bomb
On August 1, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot had declared “wishing to warmly” that Algeria accepts Boualem Bensaid. “It has been months since Algiers no longer accepts anyone from the list of people that France wants to expel towards Algeria. In this particular case, I believe that Algeria would show its sense of responsibility by resuming its national, ”he said.
Boualem Bensaid was found notably guilty of having laid the bomb that exploded in a RER station – a suburban train – in the center of Paris on July 25, 1995, killing eight and 150 injured. This attack, the most serious in a series of attacks in France, had been claimed by the Algerian armed Islamic group (GIA), which reproached France for its “support” to the Algiers regime.
Boualem Bensaid was sentenced in 2002, then on appeal in 2003, to life with a 22 -year -old security period. He has been in prison for almost three decades.
“Latest news”
Do you want to stay at the top of the info? “24 hours” offers you two meetings a day, not to miss anything of what is happening in your canton, in Switzerland or in the world.
Other newsletters
AFP
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.