CCPR/C/120/D/2267/2013
Covenant and the Optional Protocol to the Covenant entered into force for the State party on
12 December 1989. The author is represented by the Collectif des familles de disparu(e)s en
Algérie.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
On 20 June 1994, at approximately 5.30 a.m., a large number of police officers
surrounded the Khelifati family home. The officers, who were armed and wearing balaclavas
and “Ninja” combat dress, belonged to the anti-terrorist squad. Four of them entered the
courtyard through the garden. There, they found Youcef Khelifati performing his ablutions
before prayers, set about him and threatened to kill him if he moved. They took a sheet that
was hanging in front of the house and put it over the victim’s head. Awakened by the noise,
the author came down to ask the police officers why they were arresting his son. The officers
ordered him back into the house, threatening to shoot him. At that moment, the author
recognized the voice of B., the detective superintendent of the criminal investigation task
force in Dellys.
2.2
One person witnessed the scene. The police officers left on foot, taking Youcef
Khelifati to the Mesrour Ali school, where a white Peugeot 205 was parked. They put the
victim in the trunk of the car and drove off. Two other neighbours witnessed his arrest.
2.3
At 7 a.m., that same day, the author went to the police station in Dellys to find out
why his son had been arrested. The white Peugeot 205 was parked there. The author
recognized Superintendent B., who was wearing the same clothing that he had worn during
the arrest. The superintendent flatly denied that Youcef Khelifati had been arrested.
2.4
The next day, the same police officers who had arrested Youcef came back with army
units to comb the neighbourhood and forest and to search the house. Over the following years,
up until 2000, the police came back to search the family home about every 10 days, without
giving the family any explanation as to what they were looking for or to what end.
2.5
On several occasions, inhabitants of Dellys were summoned and questioned about
Youcef Khelifati at the Ben Aknoun barracks by plain-clothes police officers. In the author’s
opinion, this demonstrates that the police transferred Youcef to the Intelligence and Security
Department — the political police in Algeria better known as “military security”.
2.6
On 11 October 1994, the author received a telex from the National Human Rights
Observatory (the country’s national human rights institution), informing him that, according
to the Directorate General of National Security, Youcef Khelifati, an “active terrorist”, had
been killed in July 1994 by the security forces in the mountains of Dellys. The author has
always challenged this statement, which he considers to be false given that his son was
arrested in front of him.
2.7
The author’s determination to find out the truth has caused harm to the entire family.
The Algerian authorities hounded the family, repeatedly harassing and intimidating them. For
example, the office where the victim worked was destroyed on the order of the municipal
authorities and the water supply to the family home was unexpectedly cut off. In addition, the
authorities went after Mohamed Khelifati, Youcef’s younger brother, who was 15 at the time
of the events, and subjected him to downright judicial harassment. On several occasions,
Mohamed was arrested, carried off and interrogated by naval officers. He suffered physical
violence, and, as they beat him, they threatened to “do the same thing” to him that they had
done to his brother. According to the author, all these reprisals are the direct consequence of
his determination to find out what had happened to his son Youcef. The author adds that the
pressure on the family continues to this day and that he very frequently receives letters from
various authorities, including the governor of Boumerdès, strongly encouraging him to seek
compensation. The governor, knowing that the author is illiterate, even tried to trick him by
urging him to sign a death certificate for his disappeared son. To this day, the author refuses
point blank to file an application for compensation, which would imply an acknowledgement
of the victim’s death.
2.8
The author has contacted the country’s highest authorities in order to find his son.
Immediately after the victim’s arrest, the author lodged a complaint with the National Human
Rights Observatory. He also sent one complaint to the former President, Liamine Zeroual, on
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GE.17-16622