Maamar Ouaghlissi
Date of arrest: 1994-09-27
Forces responsible: Intelligence and Security Department (DRS)
Summary
According to testimony from his co-workers, Maamar Ouaghlissi was arrested on September 27, 1994, while he was at work at the national railways company (SNTF), where he was employed as a surveyor in the Infrastructure Department. Three plain clothes officers, claiming to be from the security services (Al-Amn), arrived at the SNTF Headquarters at around midday in a white Nissan Patrol four-wheel drive vehicle. This type of vehicle was regularly used by the criminal investigation police and the Army’s Intelligence and Security Department (DRS). Failing to find Maamar Ouaghlissi, they decided to wait for him and prevented his colleagues from leaving the premises, probably for fear that they might warn him. When the victim returned from his lunch break, at around 1 p.m., they asked him to follow them in his own vehicle, accompanied by two officers; they provided no explanation, nor did they show a warrant
Over the previous few days and throughout the whole month of September, there had been numerous arrests and abductions in Constantine, particularly of members of local councils and deputies as well as people who were activists and supporters of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). According to numerous witnesses, all persons arrested by the police were held incommunicado for several weeks or months at the police headquarters in Constantine, where they were systematically tortured before being transferred to the Territorial Centre for Research and Investigation in the 5th military region, under the DRS. Those persons abducted by DRS were taken directly to the Centre (CTRI), and many of them disappeared. Maamar Ouaghlissi was probably arrested as part of this operation, which was coordinated and planned by the police and DRS in Constantine.
Eight months after the arrest, Maamar Ouaghlissi’s wife learned from a former detainee that her husband was being held at the Mansourah barracks, in the 5th military region, which is run by the DRS.
Up until the end of 1995, Mr Ouaghlissi’s wife or her relatives received a number of reports from army conscripts or released prisoners that her husband was being held in one or other of the DRS barracks. Another report provided by a soldier in 1996 indicated that her husband was still alive at that time. Since then, the family have had no news of him.
Steps taken
September 27, 1994: The management of SNTF lodges a complaint with the 5th military region in Constantine. Family members go the police headquarters in Constantine, gendarmerie brigades, and various barracks in the city.
October 1994: Maamar Ouaghlissi’s father approaches the Court of Constantine to ascertain whether the victim has been brought before the Public Prosecutor.
His father lodges a complaint with the Prosecution sabout his son’s disappearance and abduction, to no avail.
May 1995: Maamar Ouaghlissi’s father goes to the Mansourah barracks, but is sent away by the soldiers, who deny they are holding his son.
1998: Maamar Ouaghlissi’s wife lodges a complaint with the Public Prosecutor in Constantine about her husband’s abduction and disappearance.
September 28, 1998: His wife files another complaint with a local office opened to register complaints from families of missing persons.
January 15, 2000: His wife sends a letter to the general in command of the 5th military region, in which she requests information on her husband’s disappearance.
April, 23, 2000: His wife is summoned by the gendarmerie and told that the investigations into her husband’s disappearance have produced no results.
May 2000: His wife is summoned, this time by the daïra of Hamma Bouzinae, where she is given an official report from the Ministry of the Interior and local authorities informing her that “the investigations carried out have not been able to determine the whereabouts of the person concerned”.
February 6, 2001: His wife sends a letter a registered letter to the Minister of Justice.
June 27, 2005: His wife seizes the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).
2006: The gendarmerie gives Maamar Ouaghlissi’s wife an “official certificate attesting to a disappearance under the circumstances arising from the national tragedy”, although no investigation has been carried out.
July 1, 2009: Having exhausted all the domestic remedies, his wife seizes the UN Human Rights Committee.
Decision of the Human Rights Committee
Communication number: 1905/2009
Date adopted: 2012-03-26
Source/Author: Farida Khirani, represented by the Alkarama for Human Rights Foundation.
Violations found:
Right to life, prohibition of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment (including in relation to the author), right to liberty and security of person, right of persons deprived of their liberty to humane treatment, right to 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 with an effective remedy, including by (i) conducting a thorough and effective investigation into the disappearance of Maamar Ouaghlissi; (ii) providing the author with detailed information about the results of the investigation; (iii) freeing him immediately if he is still being detained incommunicado; (iv) if Maamar Ouaghlissi is dead, handing over his remains to his family; (v) prosecuting, trying and punishing those responsible for the violations committed; and (vi) providing adequate compensation for the author and her daughters for the violations suffered and for Maamar Ouaghlissi if he is alive. Notwithstanding 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 disappearance. The State party is also under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future.
Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No
