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Rabat – The Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has retained the charges of “complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity” against the former Chief of the Algerian army and Defense minister, General Khaled Nezzar.
Nezzar was arrested in Geneva in 2011, after NGO Trial International filed a criminal complaint with the OAG, which opened a war crimes investigation. He was later released “on the promise to appear for the remainder of the proceedings,” the NGO said in a statement.
Nezzar is being prosecuted for his alleged participation in “war crimes and crimes against humanity” that took place during the Algerian civil war when he was the commanding general of the military junta and serving as defense minister.
He is now set to be tried before the Federal Criminal Court (FCC) in Bellinzona, Switzerland, for the crimes he committed between January, 14 1992 and January, 31 1994.
The crimes include “extrajudicial executions”, “torture” and “enforced disappearances,” according to the NGO Trial International.
After conducting a three-day final hearing of Nezzar in Bern between February 2 and 4, the OAG is about to finish its investigation.
The general, however, was able to leave freely after the hearing, despite the request for his arrest by six different complainants “who fear to see him vanishing forever or exert pressure on victims and witnesses,” reports Le Temps.
The defense, however, assured that General Nezzar currently resides in Algeria and will appear at a possible trial, the same source added.
Trial International described this step as a remarkable one “to fight against impunity.” A formal decision to close the investigation, followed by an indictment, is expected to happen soon.
The NGO’s Director Philip Grant has stressed that “this is the last opportunity for Algerian victims to get justice,” arguing that “no one has ever been prosecuted in Algeria, let alone tried for crimes committed during the civil war.”
“Sending Nezzar to trial would set a historic precedent: it would be the first time in the world that such a high-ranking person would be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity before an ordinary national court,” the NGO added.
Algeria’s “black decade” resulted in the death or the disappearance of over 200,000 people between 1992 and 2000.
General Nezzar, who is now 85 years old, was the head of the army and de facto leader of the military junta, at the head of troops that committed an incalculable number of abuses.
