Benattia Zerrougui

Date of arrest: 1995-06-01

Forces responsible: Police

Summary

Benattia Zerrougui was first arrested by the police on February 11, 1992, while he was serving as secretary-general of the elected municipal council of Tiaret. He then suffered a great deal of abuse during his interrogation (slaps, blows with the butt of a rifle) at the hands of a police officer. When he was brought before the Tribunal of Tiaret, he was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.

On June 1, 1995, Benattia Zerrougui arrived at Tiaret taxi station from Oran, where he was working as a merchant. His brother Ahmed was waiting for him at the station. Benattia Zerrougui was arrested by armed and hooded police officers wearing the uniform of the wilaya security services, who had set up a roadblock. They then took him to the police station a few hundred metres away.

Benattia Zerrougui’s brother informed their mother, who immediately went to the police station. She continued to go there for 15 days in search of her son. On June 15, 1995, a police officer confirmed that her son was still being held there. She asked him about her son’s health. As the police officer was about to take her to see her son, a senior officer prevented him from doing so, definitively barring any contact between Benattia Zerrougui and his relatives.

The family was able to get news of the detainee through a police officer who was a former schoolmate of Benattia Zerrougui and a woman employed at the police station. It seemed that he was hospitalised on two occasions in Youcef Damerdji Hospital in Tiaret. A medical technician at the hospital also confirmed that the victim had been there. On July 19, 1995, the same police officer informed the family that the military security services had transferred Benattia Zerrougui to the Tiaret wilaya military sector.

The family was also in contact with a military police officer who had managed to locate the prisoner in Tiaret and who also said he had seen the arrest report. He gave the family information about Benattia Zerrougui’s situation from time to time, particularly when he was transferred from one place of detention to another.

At the end of 1998, Benattia Zerrougui’s parents learned that their son had been transferred to the Eckmühl military police secret detention centre in Oran. In 1999, he was again transferred to Tiaret. In June 1999, a member of the security services confirmed to the family that Benattia Zerrougui was still being held incommunicado in the Tiaret military sector, and in November 2000, a former inspector of police told them that he had once again been transferred to Oran, without saying, however, exactly where he was being held. According to the information that the family has been able to gather, between 1995 and 2000 Benattia Zerrougui was detained most of the time in the Tiaret military sector, apart from when he was held in Oran. However, his family never received confirmation of that unofficial information from the authorities, and he has been missing since.

Steps taken

June 24, 1995: Benattia Zerrougui’s wife writes to the head of the Tiaret wilaya police department.

October 15, 1995: Benattia Zerrougui’s mother applies to the President of the Tribunal of Tiaret, asking for information about the situation and particularly about where her son was being held.

January 1996: His mother goes to the National Human Rights Observatory in Algiers and files an application concerning his disappearance.

May 12, 1997: His mother submits a request for assistance to the Ombudsman of the Republic.

August 16, 1998: His mother writes to the Public Prosecutor to ask where her son is being held and why he has never been brought before a court.

1998: His mother is summoned by the police on several occasions.

4 September 2000: His mother writes to the Chief Prosecutor.

April 8, 2001: His mother writes to the Public Prosecutor.

2004: His mother writes two letters to the President of the Republic

December 21, 2004: His mother files a complaint before the Prosecutor of the Tribunal of Tiaret. 

June 18, 2008: Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Benattia Zerrougui’s brother seizes the UN Human Rights Committee.

Decision of the Human Rights Committee

Communication number: 1796/2008
Date adopted: 2013-07-25
Source/Author: Ahmed Zerrougui, 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 and right to an effective remedy (including in relation to the author).

Recommendations:

The State party must provide the author and his family with an effective remedy, including by: (a) conducting a thorough and effective investigation into the disappearance of Benattia Zerrougui; (b) providing the author and his family with detailed information about the results of its investigation; (c) releasing Benattia Zerrougui immediately if he is still being detained incommunicado; (d) in the event that Benattia Zerrougui is deceased, handing over his remains to his 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 Benattia Zerrougui if he is 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 by victims of crimes such as torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The State party is also under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future.

Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No