Algeria’s Bouteflika’s brother sentenced to 15 years
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The brother of Algeria’s deposed former president has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring against the state and undermining the military.
Said Bouteflika was widely seen as the real power behind the presidency after his brother, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, suffered a stroke in 2013.
Two former secret service chiefs and a political party head were also sentenced after the two-day trial.
Algerian youngsters from SOS Bab El Oued to join a protest against the then President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, Algeria. Placard depicts former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika being moved like a puppet by his advisor and brother Said Bouteflika. EPA-EFE/AMEL PAIN
President Bouteflika was ousted in April following pro-democracy protests.
Said Bouteflika was widely seen as the real power behind the presidency after his brother suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013.
He was arrested in May, along with the two ex-intelligence bosses – Mohamed Mediene and Athmane or Bachir Tartag – and leftist leader Louisa Hanoune over a meeting in which they allegedly discussed imposing a state of emergency and firing army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah as a last-ditch effort to preserve the rule of the former president.
