Algeria's ex-counter-espionage chief to go on trial
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria's longtime counterespionage chief who helped lead the country's war on Islamist extremists went before a military tribunal Thursday for an unusual trial.
Abdelkader Ait Ouarabi, best known as Gen. Hassan, is on trial in the Mediterranean city of Oran on charges of "destruction of documents" and "breach of orders." The grounds for the charges have not been made clear, though the Algerian press has reported that he is accused of arms possession and creating an armed organization.
Hassan is among the first generals ever to be tried in Algeria. For two decades he embodied Algeria's battle against Islamist extremists, which erupted after the army canceled 1991 legislative elections to thwart a win by an Islamic fundamentalist party. Ensuing violence left an estimated 200,000 people dead.
The general, long dubbed Algeria's "Mr. Counter-Terrorism," was one of several top-level forced departures over the past two years within the security services.
The entourage of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has presented the dramatic changes as a restructuring to democratize the famously opaque system of the powerful DRS security agency. Critics contend it is a settling of scores or a bid to eliminate those who might have a role in a war of succession for the presidency. The mandate of the ailing Bouteflika ends in 2019.
Hassan's lawyer sought a public trial. "Nothing justifies closed doors," lawyer Mokrane Ait Larbi said in an interview with The Associated Press.
However, the tribunal kept out onlookers and reporters at the opening of the trial Thursday, allowing only the family and defense lawyers inside.
The defense lawyer is also seeking testimony from Hassan's superior, Gen. Mohamed Mediene, the once all-powerful intelligence chief known to Algerians as "Toufik" who was dismissed in September.
Hassan, forced into retirement in 2013, was arrested at his home in August and taken before a military judge in Blida, south of Algiers, the following day. His case was sent last month to the tribunal in Oran.
