Transitional Justice Forum

Amnesty proposal in Algeria

Posted by Helena Cobban at 23:08 | TrackBack

On August 14, Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika spoke to the parliament about his plans for the long-expected amnesty there. Here is the French-language account, from the semi-official daily El-Watan, of his remarks. Here is a quick (and far from perfect) Babelfish translation of that article.

For its part, Amnesty International was very quick off the draw and on August 22 issued this statement, decrying the idea of the proposed amnesty.

I think AI was a bit too quick off the draw, since Bouteflika was only describing the Charter that he'll be presenting to the Parliament next month, not actually presenting it. I guess they wanted to try to influence him before he does so...

To me, the amnesty provision he's proposing seems fairly comprehensive-- and it may indeed be the only way to cement the still-fragile peace that he's been able to bring to the country since the tamping down of the horrendous civil war of 1993-2002, during which around 200,000 people were killed. The civil war was between Islamist insurgents loosely organized around Groupes Islamistes Armees (GIA) and the government, which like the GIA also used many dirty tricks in that struggle, which tore whole areas of the country apart.

Here is my own translation of the part of the speech where Bouteflika describes the terms of the amnesty:

... In the fourth place, and while always remaining united in the implacable struggle that we shall continue to wage against terrorism and for security, the charter project will propose to you the following concrete measures which respond to your profound desire to put an end to the bloodshed and to reestablish peace:

* firstly, ending all criminal cases for those-- and they are numerous-- who have already put an end to their armed actions and have given themselves up to the authorities since 13 January 2000, the deadline defined in the law on civil concord, so long as these persons are not implicated in collective massacres, rapes, or any attempt to detonate bombs in public places;

* then, giving up the criminal cases against people sought for in Algeria or overseas or condemned in absentia, who shall decide to give themselves up voluntarily to the authorities, so long as these too have not been responsible for the same kinds of acts defined above; and also, ending criminal cases against persons implicated in actrivities in support of terrorism who declare themselves to the competent authorities;

* also, mercy for people convicted or detained for acts of terrorism other than collective massacres, rapes. or attempts to detonate bombs in public places;

* finally, commutations and remissions of sentences for all other individuals convicted definitively, detained, or sought for acts of terrorism, who are not covered by the measures of mercy and ending of cases described above.

He also promised that the Charter would provide reparations to the families of all those who disappeared-- or who were disappeared-- during what he called "the national tragedy".

The AI statementcritized Bouteflika's approach in the following terms:

The Charter contains provisions aimed at exonerating both security forces and armed groups from accountability for grave human rights abuses. Such provisions are inconsistent with Algeria’s obligations under international law and may be a final denial of truth and justice to hundreds of thousands of victims and their families.

However, the statement had to admit it still didn't know the precise nature opf the proposal Bouteflika would be presenting:

It is so far unclear whether the Charter will pave the way for a general amnesty law or a series of other measures, as detailed provisions are still lacking.

The Amnesty statement also makes the usual warnings about the fears of a "climate of impunity". What it notably does not do is propose any alternative and realistic way in which civil peace can be brought to the country, whose legacy of violence goes back to the treatment its people received under 150 years of extremely brutal French colonialism.