The prosecution of the Dar El Beida court near Algiers requested 10 years’ imprisonment against the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, accused of attack on the territorial integrity of Algeria, said several Algerian media this Thursday, March 20. The verdict will be pronounced on March 27 in this trial brought against the writer, imprisoned since mid-November when he arrived at Algiers airport, according to the same sources including the Echorouk and TSA media.
The Sansal affair, which benefited from a vast momentum of support in France, has become a subject of tension between Paris and Algiers, whose relations have been strongly degraded since recognition in July 2024 by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, of a plan of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for Western Sahara, to not defined status according to the United Nations.
“Affairs in national unity”
Boualem Sansal is prosecuted for several charges, including “damage to national unity, compounded body outrage, practices likely to harm the national economy and detention of videos and publications threatening the security and stability of the country”. According to the accusation, the writer made remarks involving the integrity of the national territory.
According to the French daily The worldthe Algerian power has badly made its statements in October at the French media borders, renowned by the far right, taking up the position of Morocco according to which the territory of the latter country was truncated under French colonization for the benefit of Algeria.