Kamel Rakik

Date of arrest: 1996-05-06

Forces responsible: Police officers

Summary

On May 6, 1996, at 4.30 p.m., plain-clothes police officers arrived at the home of Kamel Rakik, in Ouled Moussa, a small rural village in the commune of Reghaïa (Boumerdes wilaya). First, they surrounded the whole building and told the neighbours to go home. Kamel Rakik was, at that time, at home with his wife and her sister, who had come to visit. After the police stormed into the apartment, Kamel Rakik then ran into one of the bedrooms. To force him to come out, the policemen fired shots, used Kamel Rakik’s wife as a human shield and threatened to kill the family. They then broke down the door and shot at Kamel Rakik, wounding him in the hands and the abdomen. Kamel Rakik was taken away, as were his wife and sister-in-law, separately, to the Châteauneuf Police Training Centre, also known as the Châteauneuf Operational Headquarters, a notorious torture and secret detention centre, where they were interrogated. After five days in detention, the two women were transferred to another cell, where they were reunited with Kamel Rakik. He told them that, although he was wounded, he had been subjected to torture as soon as he had arrived at the Châteauneuf Operational Headquarters. He explained that he had lost consciousness a number of times and had woken up at the military hospital in Blida, to which he had been admitted under a false name. When he had regained consciousness, the torture had resumed and had included beatings, electric shocks and use of the “rag technique”. After 35 days of incommunicado detention, Kamel Rakik’s wife and sister-in-law were taken away in a van and dropped off in the street in one of Algiers’ outer suburbs. Since that day, there has been no news of Kamel Rakik, despite repeated efforts by his father to find him.

Steps taken

May 7, 1996: Kamel Rakik’s father contacts the police of the Algiers and Bourmerdes wilayas, which denies that Kamel Rakik has ever been arrested, saying that he is not wanted by the police.

1996: His father repeatedly calls for the Public Prosecutor attached to the Court of Boudouaou to intervene.

December 8, 1996: One of his father’s letters is eventually registered with the Public Prosecutor’s office, but is not followed up on.

June 24, 1998: The Prosecutor sends his father a letter dated February 21, 1998, in which he informs him that his son has been “arrested by members of the security services and taken to the Algiers police station” and that he refuses to open an investigation, maintaining that his complaint was not “legal”.

October 19, 1998: Kamel Rakik’s family requests the intervention of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

2000: His father contacts various national institutions, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the President of the Republic and the Ombudsman. Only the latter responds and registers his request, but it is not followed up on.

March 25, 2000: His father lodges a formal complaint of abduction with the registrar of the Boudouaou Court, to no avail.

2006: His mother rejects a proposal made by the Algiers security services who instructed her to take administrative steps to obtain compensation for the death of her son.

November 22, 2007: Having exhausted all domestic remedies, Kamel Rakik’s family seizes the UN Human Rights Committee.

Decision of the Human Rights Committee

Communication number: 1753/2008
Date adopted: 2012-07-19
Source/Author: Yamina Guezout and her two sons, Abderrahim and Bachir Rakik, represented by TRIAL – Swiss Association against Impunity.
Violations found:

Right to life, prohibition of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment (including in relation to his mother and brothers), 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 his mother and brothers).

Recommendations:

The State party must provide the authors with an effective remedy by, inter alia: (a) conducting a thorough and effective investigation into the disappearance of Kamel Rakik; (b) providing the authors with detailed information about the results of the investigation; (c) releasing him immediately if he is still being detained incommunicado; (d) in the event that Kamel Rakik 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 authors for the violations suffered and to Kamel Rakik, if he is still alive. The State should further ensure that it does not hinder victims of crimes such as torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances from exercising their right to an effective remedy. The State party must also take steps to prevent similar violations in the future.

Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No