An international arrest warrant was issued against a former senior official of the Algerian Embassy in France in the investigations in Paris on the kidnapping and sequestration of an Algerian opponent in 2024, Amir Boukhors, we learned this Saturday from a source close to the file.
The arrest warrant, targeting SS, an Algerian 37 years old, was issued on July 25 by an investigating judge for arrest, kidnapping and sequestration in relation to a terrorist company and association of criminal terrorist criminals, according to the same source.
On July 23, the national anti-terrorist prosecution (PNAT), which resumed the investigation in February, had requested the issuance of an arrest warrant against SS, believing that there were “serious presumptions” that he committed the alleged facts, she said.
Influencer Amir Boukhors, known as Amir Dz, was removed on April 29, 2024 in the Paris region and then released on May 1.
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“An important advance”
In an inquiry report dated April, the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) incriminates SS, a former senior official of the Algerian Embassy in Paris, had reported another source close to the file.
Presented as an “Algerian non-commissioned officer of the DGDSE”, an intelligence service of this country, SS would have been present in Paris “under the diplomatic coverage of first secretary” of the Algerian Embassy.
It is “an important advance to avoid as much as possible the impunity of the Algerian agents involved in the facts which are of obvious gravity”, reacted Éric Plouvier, lawyer of Amir Boukhors.
Seven people indicted in the case
Man is probably no longer in France and could assert possible immunity.
“It would be perilous to consider that the arrest of political opponents on French territory is part of the functions of a diplomat and once his mission is allegedly diplomatic Completed, the Algerian counter-espionage agent had only functional immunity ”granted to state agents, added Me Plouvier.
At least seven people, including an Algerian consular agent, have been indicted. They are suspected of having been mainly performers who acted against remuneration, without political mobile, according to other sources close to the file.
Advanced investigations is “relief,” reacted Amir Boukhors. He said he “saw death” during his abduction which lasted “27 hours”, in a forest in Seine-et-Marne, he said.
Amir Dz targeted by nine stops
Located in France since 2016, Amir Boukhors, 42, has a million subscribers on Tiktok. Opposing the regime of the Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, he obtained the political asylum in France in 2023.
Algiers issued nine international arrest warrants against him in particular for fraud or terrorist offenses. French justice refused its extradition in 2022.
“In the event of a future arrest, it will of course be very interesting to hear the explanations of the person concerned (SS) and to try to know who he received the orders to carry out this special operation”, commented Me Plouvier, considering “difficult today to wait, in the current context, a cooperation of the Algerian authorities”.
This legal proceedings have rekindled tensions between France and Algeria, whose relations have continued to deteriorate since the summer of 2024.