CCPR/C/112/D/2086/2011
1996, she sent another letter to the State prosecutor. On 30 November 1996, she was
notified by the police that, according to the information that they had gathered, her son had
been arrested, not by the police, but by the military security services.2 On 14 September
1998, she appealed again to the provincial governor of Constantine and the matter was
consequently referred to the chief prosecutor of Constantine, who, on 19 September 1998,
ordered the crime squad of the criminal investigation department to look into the
disappearance. On 7 November 1998, the crime squad informed Aïcha Dehimi that the
investigation had yielded no results and that Sahraoui Ayache had never been summoned
by that service. In early May 2000 and in the course of July of the same year, she wrote
letters to the State prosecutor, the chief prosecutor, the Minister of Justice and the President,
all of which went unanswered.
2.5
In 1996 and on 26 June 2000, Aïcha Dehimi also appealed to the National Human
Rights Observatory but was told that it did not have any information about her son. On 20
September 2004, the Ayache family was invited to meet with the National Consultative
Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (which replaced the
National Human Rights Observatory) but the family did not learn anything about Sahraoui
Ayache’s fate.
2.6
On several occasions during this period, Aïcha Dehimi and her husband were
summoned by the Algerian authorities in connection with their son’s disappearance.3 On
these occasions, they were required to answer general questions but did not learn anything
more about the fate of their son.
2.7
In the face of the inaction and lack of transparency of the Algerian authorities, Aïcha
Dehimi and her husband resigned themselves to completing the formalities provided for
under Ordinance No. 06-01 on the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National
Reconciliation. Under the terms of the Charter, in order to be eligible for compensation, the
families of disappeared persons are required to attest that the disappeared persons are
deceased. On 17 May 2006, Aïcha Dehimi requested a certificate of disappearance “in the
extraordinary circumstances surrounding the national tragedy”, which was issued to her on
17 May 2006 by the gendarmerie of Constantine. The certificate made it possible for the
author to file a request for a judicial declaration of death for her missing son. According to
the judgement delivered on 28 June 2006 by the Court of Constantine, the date of Sahraoui
Ayache’s death was determined to be 12 August 1994, without mentioning the
circumstances of the death. Sahraoui Ayache’s parents then each received the sum of
960,000 dinars.
The complaint
3.1
The authors claim that Sahraoui Ayache is the victim of an enforced disappearance
attributable to the State party as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (i), of the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court and in article 2 of the International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance because he disappeared after being
arrested by agents of the military forces of the State party acting in an official capacity, as
attested to by the notification of 30 November 1996.
2
3
4
A copy of the written notification from the police dated 30 November 1996 which was given to the
author and to the State prosecutor of the Court of Constantine are included in the file.
A copy of Aïcha Dehimi’s summons from the Directorate General of National Security dated 10 July
1995 is included in the file. She was also summoned by the police on 10 March 1997 and by the
gendarmerie on 1 November 1997 (copies of the summonses are included in the file). Her husband
was summoned by the police on 7 February 2000 and by the security forces of the office of the
provincial governor of Constantine on 12 August 2000 (copies of the summonses are included in the
file).
GE.14-21909