Algeria hands two ex-PMs 5-year jail terms

Algerian security forces gather outside a court in the capital Algiers on 10 December 2019 [RYAD KRAMDI/AFP via Getty Images]

Algeria yesterday sentenced two former prime ministers to five years in jail. “A national penal judge, specialised in combating economic and financial crimes, has sentenced Abdelmalek Sellal and Mohamed Ouyahia to five years in prison,” An-Nahar quoted legal sources as saying.

The sources added that the judge had ruled that the public case shall lapse with respect to the defendants, Zaalan Abdel-Ghani and Sallal, over a “misdemeanor of the hidden financing of the electoral campaign in Algeria.”

The ruling came after a number of charges were brought against the defendants, including “granting undue privileges, deliberate waste of public money, abuse of employment, and hidden financing of the country’s electoral campaign.”

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