MADRID 27 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government of France has described this Wednesday as “unacceptable” the detention in Algeria of the French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal and has rejected the accusations brought against him for supposedly “undermining” the authorities for some statements about the colonization of the African country.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, has stated in an interview with the France Info television network that the writer’s arrest “has no basis” and has stressed that “none of his activities allow the accusations that led to his arrest to be substantiated.” his imprisonment”.
“The unfounded arrest of a French writer is simply unacceptable,” he stressed, after his arrest on November 16 at the Algiers airport by agents of the General Directorate of Internal Security of Algeria.
In this sense, Barrot has been “shocked” by the accusations and has stated that Sansal “is a committed and brave writer who honors both countries, France and Algeria.” Furthermore, he assured that the French authorities “are fully mobilized in Algiers and Paris” to “monitor his situation” and give him consular access.
Sansal has been charged under article 87 of the Penal Code, which includes “terrorist or subversive acts against the security of the State, the integrity of the territory and the stability and normal functioning of institutions”, for which the writer faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment.
Relations between Algeria and France have not been going well since Paris recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara, a step that even led Algiers to lower diplomatic relations to the level of chargé d’affaires and withdraw its ambassador in retaliation.
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