The Franco-Algerian writer is not among the prisoners pardoned for the anniversary of independence. Only and last possible scenario: that of an individual grace, suspended from a presidential decision whose calendar remains unpredictable.
The option of a release from Boualem Sansal on the occasion of July 5 is dismissed. The decrees published this Friday, the day before 63e anniversary of the independence of Algeria, giving the categories of pursued prisoners excluding prisoners sentenced for “Involvement in national unity”.
The Algiers Court of Appeal confirmed on Tuesday 1is July a sentence of five years in prison against the 80-year-old Franco-Algerian writer, detained in Algeria since November 2024.
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The different possible scenarios are now falling. There is only one left only one: that of a presidential grace decreed for medical reasons when the Algerian president decides to do so. Abdelmadjid Tebboune would keep total control of the political tempo of this decision which could take place at any time-without giving the impression of giving in to Paris as a grace could have implied on July 5.
A grace still possible
A measure outside official dates would not be unprecedented. Several figures from the opposition or civil society have seen their fate settled as follows: journalist Khaled Drareni, also condemned for “Involvement in national unity”had been released in February 2021 for the birthday of the Hirak, a vast popular movement that led to the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. In December 2024, another wave of presidential graces concerned 2,471 detainees during a “Special appeasement decree”.
Boualem Sansal, who has not introduced an appeal to cassation, lets his conviction become definitive – a necessary condition to benefit from a grace measure. This strategy clearly aims to maximize the chances of a political outcome.
Several Algerian media denounced in concert on Thursday, “Fixing on Sansal”as titled in a Algerian eveningrecalling that more than 1,700 French people are currently detained abroad. “However, there is only one which seems to interest the French government: Boualem Sansal.” El Khabar, Arabian daily, resumed the argument by surprising that this “Six month old” (to emphasize that the essayist has not had French nationality for a long time) attracts “This exceptional attention” media and political from Paris. “In recent months, we have witnessed a surge of slander, intoxication and prefabricated lies”recalled everyday life L’Expression, By explicitly targeting the French extreme right, deemed responsible for the excitement around the file.
In Algiers, certain sources close to the political decision regret “French diplomatic confinement” On the Sansal case. In Paris, French Prime Minister François Bayrou hoped Tuesday “Grace measures”. “The situation that Boualem Sansal is undergoing is a situation that all French and the French government are unbearable, rightly. Now that there has been condemnation, one can imagine that measures of grace, in particular according to the health of our compatriot, are taken “said the head of the French government.
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Sophie Primas, the government spokesperson, who spoke on Thursday, expressed himself on CNews, assured that “France uses diplomatic means to ask President Tebboune a humanitarian grace”. In the corridors of diplomacy, we understand that the decision of a grace “Targe too much” and that a unleashing of the media and the political class again leads to a tension from the Algerian authorities.
