Paris- Two Algerian men accused of committing torture during the country’s civil war in the 1990s are to be tried at a court in France, plaintiffs in the case said on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the French Human Rights League (LDH), the brothers were indicted on Dec. 26 by the Nimes Tribunal in southern France.
Both organisations filed a complaint in 2003 against the brothers, Hocine and Abdelkader Mohamed, prompting a judicial inquiry.
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Over the following decade, the court took testimony from people who claimed to have witnessed the brothers conduct executions.
They said the brothers also tortured people during bloody clashes between Islamist insurgents, state-sponsored militias and security forces.
“This is the first time ever that Algerians are going to be judged for crimes committed during the ‘black decade’ in Algeria,’’ FIDH President Patrick Baudouin, said in the statement.
While Hocine and Abdelkader Mohamed both reside in France, the case is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction under the UN torture convention.
The statement cited similar cases as a basis for the complaint, such as a 25-year sentence handed down to Pascal Simbikangwa by a French court in March for crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
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The Mohamed brothers, who allegedly headed state-backed militias in Relizane, approximately 300 kilometres west of Algiers, could appeal the court’s order.
An estimated 200,000 people were killed during Algeria’s civil war in the 1990s. (dpa/NAN)
