CCPR/C/122/D/2398/2014
who responded on 22 June 1998. The National Advisory Commission for the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights informed him by mail on 31 December 1999 that,
according to information sent by the national security services, the person concerned was
neither sought nor arrested by its services, and it was the national gendarmerie that had
conducted an investigation into the case. On 21 June 2000, following a letter dated 14 June
2000 from the National Human Rights Observatory stating that it had found no trace of
Mohamed Millis at Birkhadem police station, the author filed a new complaint with the
President of the Observatory, noting that he had witnessed the arrest by two police officers
from Birkhadem police station and stating who they were. He was asked to report to the
National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on 1
August 2004. On 31 May 2005, the author contacted the President of the International
Federation for Human Rights and the Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party. On 11
February 2006, he wrote to the Minister of Justice, the President of the Republic, the
Minister of the Interior and Local Government, the Head of Government and the President
of the National Human Rights Observatory. Other than an incomplete answer from the
National Human Rights Observatory, he received no response. On 9 August 2006, he sent a
letter to the commander of the Birkhadem regional gendarmerie division and to Kamel
Rezzak Bara, adviser on human rights to the President of the Republic. On 27 July 2007,
the author again contacted the Minister of Justice, the Head of Government, Kamel Rezzak
Bara, the commander of the Birkhadem regional gendarmerie division, the President of the
Republic and the Minister of the Interior and Local Government. In two letters dated 27
February 2008 and 6 July 2008, the author was summoned by the Birkhadem criminal
police division to “assist with inquiries”. Despite being summoned, the author was never
informed that any serious and thorough investigation had been conducted. The author wrote
again to the Minister of Justice on 6 August 2008 and to the President of the Republic, the
Minister of Justice, the Minister of the Interior and Local Government and the President of
the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on
20 October 2011, but received no reply. The last response he received was from the wali
(prefect) at Bir Mourad Raïs daira (sub-prefecture) on 8 February 2009, inviting him to
carry out the procedures provided for in the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
2.6
In addition to the many complaints he has filed, the author is a founding member of
SOS Disparus and participates regularly in the association’s meetings and weekly rallies.
He claims that, on 11 August 2010, at the age of 82, he was violently arrested by the police
during a rally. He claims that he was again arrested at the age of 85, at 9.30 a.m. on 1 June
2013, when he was participating in a rally held by the association, and was taken by force
to Salembier (El Madania) police station, where he was allegedly held until 4 p.m. His 77year-old wife was also allegedly arrested on the same day.
The complaint
3.1
The author claims that his son is the victim of an enforced disappearance attributable
to the State party, in violation of articles 2 (2) and (3), 6, 7, 9, 10 and 16 of the Covenant.
He also maintains that, read together and in the light of all the provisions of the Charter for
Peace and National Reconciliation, articles 27 to 39, 45 and 46 of Ordinance No. 06-01 of
27 February 2006 on the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National
Reconciliation represent an outright denial of the enforced nature of the disappearance,
which has led to multiple violations of the Covenant, in particular articles 2, 7, 14, 19 and
21, in his regard.
3.2
He contends, firstly, that the legal and other measures he took between May 1998
and October 2011 meet the requirement of exhaustion of domestic remedies, as they have
proved to be ineffective and useless. He also claims that the combined effect of Chapter IV
of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, adopted by referendum on 29
September 2005, and article 45 of Ordinance No. 06-01 of 27 February 2006 on the
implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation means there are no
longer any effective and available domestic remedies in Algeria to which the families of
victims of enforced disappearance may have recourse. He recalls in this regard that, in 2007,
the Committee had noted in its concluding observations concerning the third periodic report
of Algeria (CCPR/C/DZA/CO/3) that the Ordinance seemed to promote impunity and was
therefore incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant. He also recalls that the
GE.18-10582
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