Yahia Kroumi
Date of arrest: 1994-08-12
Forces responsible: Military Security
Summary
At 7 a.m. on August 12, 1994, Yahia Kroumi was arrested at his home in Constantine by a group of uniformed soldiers and plain clothes military security personnel who were conducting a vast search operation following the murder of two soldiers in the region of Constantine. The members of the security forces entered all the homes in the district in which Yahia Kroumi lived and ordered all the men to leave their homes with their hands raised. Those arrested were brought together outside and some of them, including Yahia Kroumi, were taken by lorry to an unknown place of detention. According to Yahia Kroumi’s father, who was, at no time did the security forces present an arrest warrant nor invoke any grounds for the arrest of his son.
According to his family, Yahia Kroumi and his 17 co-detainees were subjected to dreadful conditions of detention following their respective arrests: 18 men were crammed into a four-square metre cell where they were forced to remain standing for lack of space in the stifling August heat. In just one day, most of them died. The bodies were removed, wrapped in blankets and loaded onto an army lorry. As only few survives, the family believes that it is possible that Yahia Kroumi may have died at that time, although they cannot be sure of it.
Steps taken
After August 12, 1994: Yahia Kroumi’s parents visit various police and gendarmerie units in Constantine to enquire whether their son is being held there.
December 24,1995; February 25, 1996: Yahia Kroumi’s family files requests for information concerning the disappearance of Yahia Kroumi with the Prosecution in Constantine.
March 29, 1997: In response to a request by the Prosecutor General of the Constantine Court, the criminal police in Constantine wilaya produces a statement in which it officially denies any involvement in Yahia Kroumi’s arrest.
2000: Yahia Kroumi’s father submits a request to the Ministry of the Interior in response to which he was told that investigations concerning his son had failed to determine his whereabouts.
August 26, 2000: Yahia Kroumi’s parents write to the Prosecutor General and to the State Prosecutor to inform them of their son’s disappearance, to no avail.
June 28, 2000: Kroumi’s father writes to the Chairman of the National Human Rights Observatory.
December 5, 2001: The Kroumi family receives a reply from the National Consultative Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights informing them that Yahia Kroumi is unknown to the security forces and has never been arrested by them.
September 9, 2004: The Kroumi family receives an invitation from the Commission to attend a hearing held by its members for the families of disappeared persons. No information is provided on the fate of Yahia Kroumi during the hearing.
April 2, 2006: Yahia Kroumi’s father resigns himself to completing the formalities provided for under Ordinance No. 06-01 to receive compensation. His father submits to the gendarmerie in Constantine a request for information concerning Yahia Kroumi.
June 5, 2006: Yahia Kroumi’s parents obtain a certificate of disappearance “in the extraordinary circumstances caused by the national tragedy”, which enables them to obtain 9,600,000 dinars each.
Decision of the Human Rights Committee
Communication number: 2083/2011
Date adopted: 2014-10-30
Source/Author: Boughera Kroumi, represented by Philippe Grant of the Swiss organization Track Impunity Always (TRIAL)
Violations found:
Right to an effective remedy (including in relation to the author), 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 unlawful interference with the home.
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 Yahia Kroumi and providing the author and his family with detailed information about the results of its investigation; (b) releasing Yahia Kroumi immediately if he is still being detained incommunicado; (c) in the event that Yahia Kroumi is deceased, handing over his remains to his family; (d) prosecuting, trying and punishing those responsible for the violations committed; (e) providing adequate compensation to the author and his family for the moral harm suffered and to Yahia Kroumi, if he is still alive, taking into account payments already made; and (f) providing appropriate satisfaction for the author and his family. 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 crimes such as torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The State party is also under an obligation to prevent similar violations in the future.
Implemented by the Algerian authorities?: No
