Algeria jails two ex-intelligence chiefs for 15 years

A military court in Algeria on Wednesday jailed for 15 years two former intelligence chiefs, the brother of a former president and the leader of a political party for “conspiring against the army”, private television channels said, reports Reuters.

The court in Blida, south of Algiers, the capital, also handed a 20-year jail sentence to a former defence minister in absentia, Ennahar TV said.

The two ex-intelligence chiefs, Mohamed Mediene, and Bachir Tartag, the former president’s brother, Said Bouteflika, and Louisa Hanoune, leader of the Workers Party, were arrested in May, weeks after mass protests broke out to demand the departure of the ruling elite.

The protests forced then president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down in April, and demonstrators now seek the removal of the remaining symbols of the old guard.

READ: Ahead of presidential elections start of trial of former Algerian regime’s symbolic figures