Menouar Madoui
Date of arrest: 1997-05-07
Forces responsible: Police, army and gendarmerie
Summary
On May 7, 1997, Menouar Madoui disappeared after he went to pray at the main mosque in Larbâa. On that day, the city of Larbâa was cordoned off by the combined forces of the police, army and gendarmerie, who carried out a sweep of the city, searching most of the houses and making many arrests. The next day, his family immediately went to look for him at the mosque and was informed by a witness that the day before, four young men had been arrested by plain-clothes police outside the mosque, handcuffed and put in an unmarked car. The family then enquired about his fate and whereabouts with the gendarmerie, police and military, to no avail. The family was also informed by former detainees that Menouar Madoui was first held at Boufarik prison before he was transferred to Serkadji prison. Since then, Menouar Madoui’s family has not received further information.
Steps taken
May 21, 1997: Menouar Madoui’s family reports his disappearance to the public prosecutor of Larbâa.
February 1998: His family meets with the prosecutor at the Court of Blida, who wrote to the prosecutor at the court of Larbâa, who in turn wrote to the commander of the operational command headquarters (PCO).
February 1998: His mother is summoned for questioning at the PCO.
May 11, 1998: His family lodges a complaint with the Government prosecutor at the Bab Essabt court.
1999: Informed that Menouar Madoui was successively detained in the prisons of Boufarik and Serkadji, his family asked the Court of Algiers for a visitation permit, but in vain.
January 2, 2000: A statement from the Larbâa police informs his family that the inquiry into Menouar Madoui’s whereabouts ordered by the Larbâa public prosecutor had been closed.
March 30, 2004: The family files a complaint with the Larbâa public prosecutor, with a copy to the Government prosecutor in Blida, challenging the transfer of her son’s case to the district of Baraki when he had been arrested in Larbâa.
January 7, 2006: His family is summoned to the Larbâa Court.
February 6, 2006: His mother goes to the Court of Larbâa and is requested to produce the witnesses who claimed to have seen Menouar Madoui in prison; the witnesses refuse to appear for fear of reprisals.
July 19, 2006: Having exhausted all the domestic remedies, Menouar Madoui’s mother seizes the UN Human Rights Committee.
Decision of the Human Rights Committee
Communication number: 1495/2006
Date adopted: 2008-10-28
Source/Author: Zohra Madoui (represented by counsel, Nassera Dutour).
Violations found:
Prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (including in relation to the author); right to liberty and security of person; arbitrary arrest and detention; right to recognition as a person before the law; right to effective remedy.
Recommendations:
The State party must provide the author with reparation in the form of compensation. The State party is duty-bound not only to conduct thorough investigations into alleged violations of human rights, particularly enforced disappearances and acts of torture, but also to prosecute, try and punish the culprits. The State party is therefore also under an obligation to prosecute, try and punish those held responsible for these violations. The State party is, further, required to take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.
Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No
