CCPR/C/119/D/2259/2013
is represented by counsel, Nassira Dutour of the Collectif des Familles de Disparu(e)s en
Algérie.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
Brahim El Boathi, born on 3 April 1965, was married and the father of two children.
He was employed as a soldier at the Bouzareah barracks. On 17 January 1994, he took a
bus from the Place des Martyrs to go to work. He was arrested at a police checkpoint in the
Climat de France neighbourhood, in Oued Koriche municipality, Bab el Oued district,
Algiers wilaya (governorate). His family has not seen him since then.
2.2
On 19 January 1994, Malika El Boathi (the author) initiated what proved to be
fruitless search procedures for her son in police stations near to the place where he
disappeared. The author went to Baïnem court in Algiers and was received by the
prosecutor, whom she told about her son’s disappearance. The prosecutor called various
police stations in Algiers wilaya. At Oued Koriche police station, the prosecutor spoke with
an officer, A.Z., who confirmed that he himself had arrested Brahim El Boathi. On the
advice of the prosecutor and in possession of a letter signed by him, the author went to
Oued Koriche police station, where she met with A.Z. When he discovered who she was, he
showed signs of becoming violent. He calmed down when he read the letter from the
prosecutor, acknowledged that he had arrested Brahim El Boathi and said that he had killed
him. A.Z. refused to provide the author with a death certificate, saying that it was
impossible to do so.
2.3
On the advice of the Baïnem court prosecutor, the author returned to Oued Koriche
police station to see A.Z. and asked to see photographs of her dead son. A.Z. told the author
that the photographs were at the central police station and asked her to return the next day.
The following day, when she went back to the police station in Oued Koriche, A.Z. showed
her 26 photos of deceased persons, all bearing signs of torture, and ordered her to identify
her son. The author did not recognize her son on any of the photos. Fifteen days later, A.Z.
summoned the author to give her the number of her son’s grave in El Alia cemetery; she
built a tomb for her son there. A few days later, A.Z. called the author again to inform her
that the person buried in the grave specified was not in fact her son.
2.4
The author appealed to the Hammamet court prosecutor, who summoned her to tell
her that her son’s case was settled. He gave no further details and said that the police would
come to explain the events surrounding her son’s death. Having heard nothing from the
police, the author returned to Oued Koriche police station with her grandson. Hooded
police officers there insulted her and she fled.
2.5
On 2 May 2000, Abbane Ramdane court in Algiers refused to issue a judgment
confirming her son’s disappearance, suggesting an implicit recognition on the part of the
authorities that Brahim El Boathi was still alive. However, both before and after the trial,
she continued to receive contradictory information as to whether her son was alive or dead.
In 1999, the author was summoned to the Fifth district police station, where the
commissioner said that Brahim El Boathi was not dead, but refused to tell her where he was
being held. On 5 October 2000, the lieutenant of the Bab el Oued gendarmerie admitted that
Brahim el Boathi had disappeared in unclear circumstances. Brahim El Boathi’s wife
agreed to receive compensation. Since then, both the author and Brahim El Boathi’s wife
have made many attempts, both non-judicial and judicial, to obtain information on the
circumstances surrounding his disappearance. His wife has been subjected to intimidation
and ill-treatment on numerous occasions by the police and military security officers in her
efforts to find her husband.
2.6
In terms of non-judicial procedures, his wife has: (a) issued a wanted person notice
(2000); (b) submitted a complaint to the National Human Rights Observatory (2001); and (c)
sent a letter to the president of the SOS Disparu(e)s association (2002). The author has sent:
(a) a complaint to the Minister of Justice, copied to the President of the French Republic
prior to his visit to Algeria (2002); (b) a letter to the head of Government (2003); (c) a
request to the president of the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights to dispute the results of investigations carried out by that body
(2003); (d) a complaint to the president of the same institution (2004); (e) a complaint to
2
GE.17-07865