CCPR/C/119/D/2259/2013
the President of the Republic, the head of Government and the Ministers of Justice and the
Interior (2006); (f) a request to the head of the El Achour gendarmerie brigade (2007); (g) a
complaint to the President of the Republic, the Ministers of Justice and the Interior, the
chief of Blida wilaya first military region and the human rights adviser to the President of
the Republic (2007); (h) a request for action to the head of the delegation of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (2007); and (i) another request to the Minister of
Justice and the President of the Republic (2009). Some of the authorities acknowledged
receipt of the complaints, but merely directed the author to the courts or to procedures for
application for compensation. The National Advisory Commission for the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights carried out an inquiry, the results of which were categorically
refuted by the author.
2.7
In terms of judicial proceedings, the El Boathi family requested that an investigation
be initiated immediately after Brahim El Boathi’s disappearance; his wife was summoned
by the Bab El Oued police on 20 February 1995 and 26 September 1999. Following the
decision on appeal by Bab El Oued court and the Algiers Indictments Chamber of 2 May
2000 to dismiss the case, the author submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor on 1
October 2003 and a complaint to the public prosecutor at the court of Algiers on 14 June
2006. The author also submitted a complaint to the president of Baïnem court, Algiers
wilaya, on 31 October 2007 and a request for action to the public prosecutor of Hussein
Dey on 28 January 2009.
2.8
The author was summoned on several occasions by the police and gendarmerie, as
well as by the public prosecutors at Cheraga and Bab el Oued courts. She received
conflicting information, with some authorities saying that her son was being sought by the
security services, while others stated that that was not the case. Some authorities did not
even acknowledge receipt of her complaints. The prosecutor at Cheraga court ordered an
investigation, which was carried out by the Oued Koriche police in 2011 and found that
Brahim El Boathi had been sought by the security services but never arrested.
2.9
The case of Brahim El Boathi was also submitted to the Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in December 2007.
The complaint
3.1
The author claims that her son is the victim of an act of enforced disappearance
attributable to the State party, as set out in article 2 of the International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The author considers that the
enforced disappearance of her son since 17 January 1994 constitutes (a) a violation of
articles 2 (2) and (3), 6, 7, 9, 10 and 16 of the Covenant with regard to Brahim El Boathi
and (b) a violation of articles 2 (2) and 7, read in conjunction with article 2 (3), of the
Covenant with regard to the author and her family.
3.2
The author considers that Ordinance No. 06-01 of 27 February 2006 1 on the
implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation constitutes a violation
of the general obligation under article 2 (2) of the Covenant, in that that provision also
entails a negative obligation for States to refrain from adopting measures that are contrary
to the Covenant. By adopting ordinance No. 06-01, the State party thus took a legislative
measure that removed the rights recognized in the Covenant 2 and particularly the right to
have access to an effective remedy against violations of human rights. The author claims
that she and her son have been victims of this legislative provision and that article 2 (2) of
the Covenant has been clearly violated in the present case.
1
2
GE.17-07865
Ordinance No. 06-01 27 February 2006 provides for the implementation of the Charter for Peace and
National Reconciliation. Article 45 of the Ordinance provides that “no individual or collective legal
proceedings may be brought against members of any branch of the defence and security forces of the
Republic for actions undertaken to protect persons and property, safeguard the nation and preserve the
institutions of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.”
In support of her argument, the author refers to the concurring individual opinions of Fabián Salvioli,
specifically that expressed in the case of Chihoub v. Algeria, communication No. 1811/2008, Views
adopted on 31 October 2011.
3