Two versions that oppose, and, in the middle, a man with fragile health imprisoned in Algeria since November 2024. On Sunday, Me François Zimeray, French lawyer of Boualem Sansal, told AFP that the Franco-Algerian writer began a hunger strike after information in this sense JDD. According to Me François Zimeray, Boualem Sansal would have made this decision “due to the pressures exerted against him to change lawyers”. “I am worried about his health, as for the very possibility of a fair trial,” said AFP François Zimeray. The lawyer also said that the care protocol followed by Boualem Sansal had been interrupted, while the writer suffers from cancer.
The Bâtonnier of Algiers Mohamed Baghdadi denied this information this Tuesday with the Algerian newspaper El Watan. “Contrary to what has been written, he is not on hunger strike. And that’s good for him, because it would have been detrimental to his health,” said Mohamed Baghdadi. In addition, Boualem Sansal “did not stop his” medical treatment, assured the president of Algiers. “According to the designated teacher to supervise his care and his medical management, with whom I discussed, the protocol followed for the treatment of his cancer began to give good results,” said the Bâtonnier of Algiers.
In addition, Boualem Sansal “sent a letter to the investigating judge, the object of which is the deconstitution of all of his lawyers, including François Zimeray,” said Mohamed Baghdadi, according to whom “Boualem Sansal wrote that ‘He wanted to defend himself “. “What surprises me is that Me François Zimeray continues to say that he is still his lawyer, while officially, there is this letter of deconstitution dating from a week,” added Me Mohamed Baghdadi, Saying “struggled” about the writer’s decision concerning his lawyers. “We can’t do anything about it. But that he has at least one or more colleagues for his defense,” he said.
The refusal of Algiers visa
February 19, Marianne indicated that the Algerian regime would have asked Boualem Sansal to take a “non -Jewish” lawyer. Algiers would have sent emissaries on February 17 to the writer in order to push him to change the French lawyer, said the magazine. To try to convince him, these emissaries would have explained that the replacement for Me François Zimeray would have a chance to obtain a visa in order to be able to visit it.
Questioned this Tuesday by AFP, François Zimeray refused to comment. This Parisian lawyer, mandated by Editions Gallimard, denounces since the start of the procedure the refusal of Algeria to grant him a visa, among others “attacks on the rights of the defense”. He could not meet Boualem Sansal at any time since his arrest at Algiers airport.
“I do not admit that France is humiliated”
The writer is prosecuted under article 87 bis of the penal code, which sanctions in Algeria “as a terrorist or subversive act, any act aimed at the security of the State, the integrity of the territory, the stability and the normal functioning institutions “. According to the daily The worldthe Algerian power would have taken badly in its statements to the French far -right media borders 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.
Relations often sawing saw between France and Algeria have deteriorated since the summer of 2024 after the announcement of France’s support to the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Several files then continued to darken bilateral relations, including the arrest in France of several Algerian influencers for the apology of violence, as well as the incarceration of Boualem Sansal, or the deadly knife attack in Toulouse.
On Monday, on the sidelines of the Agricultural Show, Bruno Retailleau reiterated his criticism against Algeria. “Who in France can argue that hardness is not on the side of the Algerian regime?” Asked the Minister of the Interior, pointing to the case of the writer Boualem Sansal. “I do not admit that France is humiliated,” added the minister.