Saïd Bouteflika was the influential advisor to his brother Abdelaziz, who died on September 17, 2021.
Saïd Bouteflika, younger brother of the late ex-Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was sentenced, Tuesday, October 12, to two years in prison by an Algerian court for “obstructing the proper conduct of justice”, report the official APS agency. The prosecution with required seven years firm against Saïd Bouteflika who appeared before the criminal court of Dar El Beida, east of Algiers, where he was being prosecuted with other former officials for “incitement to falsify official documents”, “abuse of office”, “obstruction of justice”, “incitement to partiality of justice” and “contempt of court”. The main accused in this trial is the former Minister of Justice Tayeb Louh. He was sentenced to six years in prison, while the former boss of the bosses, businessman Ali Haddad, was sentenced to two years, the agency said.
“Conspiracy against the army”
Saïd Bouteflika, 63, was arrested in May 2019 along with three co-accused and sentenced in September of the same year to 15 years’ imprisonment in a flash trial before a military court for “conspiracy against the army”, who then publicly demanded the departure of President Bouteflika to get out of the crisis born of the Hirak, the anti-regime protest movement. On January 2, 2021, a military appeal court acquitted Saïd Bouteflika, but was under a warrant of committal for “Bribery”, he had been transferred from a military prison to civilian prison.
The fall of the counselor
Saïd Bouteflika was the influential adviser to his brother Abdelaziz, who died on September 17. For many observers, he was the real holder of power in Algeria since the stroke of the former president in 2013. Cited in other cases under investigation, such as the financing of the camp for the aborted 5th term, he is expected to remain in prison even after having already served the two-year sentence imposed on him on Tuesday, October 12. Since the forced resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the beginning of April 2019, under the pressure of the demonstrations of the Hirak and the army, the Algerian justice has placed in preventive detention or sentenced several political leaders as well as powerful businessmen close to him, in particular for acts of corruption.