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treatment. The family have never been able to see the body, however, or verify Mohamed’s
death, and do not know where he is buried.
2.5
In a decision of 6 June 1995, the Indictment Division of the Constantine court
charged Adel and Tarek Kerouane with premeditated murder and membership of a terrorist
group, among other offences. The decision states that “the suspects are still at large despite
the call for their arrest”. Following this decision, the Kerouane family were notified that
Tarek Kerouane had been summoned to a hearing on 20 June 1995 at the Indictment
Division of the Constantine court to hear the charges against him. Despite the fact that
Tarek was not present at the 20 June 1995 hearing, having disappeared on 20 May 1994,
the Constantine court decided at that hearing to refer the case for trial in the criminal court.
Another summons was sent to the family for Adel Kerouane to attend a hearing on 4 June
1996 at the Indictment Division of the Constantine court. In the absence of the person
concerned, who had disappeared on 12 April 1994, the Indictment Division decided on 18
June 1996 to open a further investigation on charges of endangering State security and
taking up arms against the institutions of the State.
2.6
The family, and in particular the authors of the communication, have been
unremitting in their efforts to shed light on the disappearance of the three Kerouane
brothers. Despite their numerous requests to the various authorities, including army
barracks and police and gendarmerie stations in the area, and to the Constantine
prosecutor’s office, the family’s efforts have been fruitless.
2.7
On 6 June 1995 the grandmother of Adel and Tarek Kerouane, Kamela Allioua, sent
a written request to the State prosecutor at the Constantine court for information on the fate
of her grandson, whereupon she was summoned to the security headquarters of the wilaya
of Constantine by a police officer from the Directorate-General of National Security. On 23
July 1995 Kamela Allioua was informed by the Directorate-General that “the inquiries had
yielded no results”, despite the fact that criminal proceedings had been brought against
Adel and Tarek Kerouane in the meantime. It has not been possible to establish what form
these inquiries took.
2.8
Following Mohamed’s disappearance, and still with no news of Adel or Tarek, the
victims’ mother, Akila Djama (Kerouane by marriage), went to the wilaya offices in
Constantine on 9 September 1998 to try to find out what had happened to her missing
children. On 6 April 1999 she was summoned to the investigation section at the
gendarmerie brigade of the wilaya of Constantine and questioned about the circumstances
of the three disappearances. She received a second summons on 12 April 1999 from the
investigating judge at the Constantine court. After another round of questioning on the
circumstances of her three sons’ disappearance, on 4 July 1999, it was clear to the mother
that the authorities had taken no action at all on her requests. On 17 November 1999 she
received a letter from the Director-General of Collective Freedoms and Legal Affairs of the
Ministry of the Interior, stating that Adel was “wanted by the security services for
obstructing the law”.
2.9 Having been unable to obtain any information on the fate of the disappeared persons,
the family decided on 2 July 2000 to write to the Ministry of the Interior, the President, the
National Observatory for Human Rights (ONDH) and the State prosecutor at the
Constantine court to report the disappearance of the three brothers once again. No action
was taken on these letters, however, and no investigation was launched. Only the National
Observatory for Human Rights replied, telling the family on 2 March 2001 that “according
to information provided by the security services, [Mohamed Kerouane] is not wanted and
has never been arrested by the security services”. As to Adel and Tarek, the family received
two letters on 5 December 2001 from the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights (CNCPPDH) stating that “according to information
provided by the security services, these two individuals are wanted by the security services”,
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