Abdelkrim and Abdessamad Azizi

Date of arrest: 1994-09-22

Forces responsible: Police

Summary

On September 22, 1994, during the night, uniformed police officers who were part of the 5th mobile criminal investigation brigade of the Cité de la Montagne police station in Bourouba broke down the front door of Abdelkrim Azizi’s home. When he asked who they were and what they wanted, they insulted and shoved him. They then blindfolded him and took him into the bathroom. While his wife and their three daughters were kept in the living room, one of their sons, Abdessamad Azizi, then 18 years old, was led away from the family apartment by the police and has not been seen since. A police officer then took the eldest and youngest of the sisters into another room and asked them questions about their family and about their father’s activities, while slapping and kicking them. They were then taken into the bathroom, where their father was tortured using the “rag technique”. The police officers also tried to rip off Abdelkrim Azizi’s beard after dousing it with strong glue. The two sisters saw their father lying on the ground, covered in blood, in a pool of water. The police then went down to the family’s storeroom and seized jewellery, money, foodstuffs and identity papers. After threatening to burn down the family home if she told anyone what had happened that night, the police officers left, taking Abdelkrim Azizi with them. Since then, Abdelkrim Azizi and Abdessamad Azizi have remained disappeared. The family home was also searched several times. During these searches, the police officers seized jewellery, money, valuables and food.

On July 1, 2000, the former deputy brigade chief of the Cité de la Montagne police station in Bourouba claimed in a public statement that Abdelkrim Azizi and his son Abdessamad Azizi had been at the police station but no specific charges had been brought against them. He also alleged that the two victims were killed under torture by police commissioner Boualem. Several persons who had been detained at the police station and subsequently released have claimed that they saw the victims there. Abdelkrim Azizi also reportedly passed through the Ain-Nadja military hospital on an unknown date before being brought to Bourouba.

Steps taken

September 23, 1994: Khaoukha Marouf goes to the Cité de la Montagne police station in Bourouba, where she recognises the police officers who had come to her home the night before. The police officers threaten her but deny having arrested her son and her husband.

1994: Khaoukha Marouf visits the police station in Bourouba, the Algiers central police station, El Harrach prison and Serkadji prison, without obtaining any official information about the fate of her husband or son. She writes, on several occasions, to the Public Prosecutor of the Court of El Harrach, and the Chief Prosecutor of the Court of Algiers, to no avail.

December 1996: Khaoukha Marouf contacts the National Observatory for Human Rights, to no avail.

December 12, 1997: Khaoukha Marouf submits the cases of Abdelkrim Azizi and Abdessamad Azizi to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

1998: Responding to Khaoukha Marouf, the Ombudsman acknowledges receipt of her requests for intervention and informs her that he had referred the case to the competent bodies for examination.

After 1998: Khaoukha Marouf writes to National Observatory for Human Rights, the Public Prosecutor of the Court of El Harrach or the Chief Prosecutor of the Algiers Court of Appeal, to no avail.

January 30, 2009: Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Khaoukha Marouf seizes the UN Human Rights Committee.

Decision of the Human Rights Committee

Communication number: 1889/2009
Date adopted: 2014-03-21
Source/Author: Khaoukha Marouf, represented by Track Impunity Always (TRIAL).
Violations found:

Right to life, prohibition of torture and cruel or inhuman treatment (including in relation to the author), right to liberty and security of person, respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, recognition as a person before the law, right to an effective remedy (including in relation to the author), right to privacy and right to protection of family life.

Recommendations:

The State party must provide the family of Abdelkrim and Abdessamad Azizi with an effective remedy, including by: (a) conducting a thorough and effective investigation into the disappearance of Abdelkrim and Abdessamad Azizi; (b) providing their family with detailed information about the results of its investigation; (c) releasing them immediately if they are still being detained incommunicado; (d) in the event that Abdelkrim and Abdessamad Azizi are deceased, handing over their remains to their family; (e) prosecuting, trying and punishing those responsible for the violations committed; and (f) providing adequate compensation to the author for the violations suffered and to Abdelkrim and Abdessamad Azizi, if they are still alive. Notwithstanding the terms of Ordinance No. 06-01, the State party should ensure that it does not impede enjoyment of the right to an effective remedy for the victims of crimes such as torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The State party is also under an obligation to take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.

Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No