This is the way Democracy is built as through assiduous, continuous and countless but very professional efforts, all needed at every step of the way.

It’s not been and could never be the case of a radical change brought by one election or by a ginormous ‘constituent assembly’.  It’s a matter of an indefatigable and synchronised move throughout and by the country’s numerous and strategic professionals of the Press, and above all the Law towards achieving amongst many things, higher standards. 

As a good exemple, here is the latest news courtesy to Maghreb Emergent’s.

Adlène Mellah Was Released!

By Lynda Abbou on January 23, 2019

The mobilization for his release finally paid off; the verdict was made in the course of the trial against Adlène Mellah, he will be released tonight from prison after his sentence has been commuted to a six-month suspended sentence.

At the end of a tense and trying day for those who have surveyed the ‘Pas Perdus’ Hall of the Court of Algiers, the defense of the imprisoned journalist, who was about forty lawyers strong, had agreed to let only a few lawyers plead and expedite the appeal trial that took place today in the court of Ruisseau, Algiers.  This defense decision was made to release the tension on their client after he fainted during the break at 7:00 pm.

This trial that began at 11:00 am this Wednesday, January 23, 2019, was an ordeal for Adléne Mellah who has been on hunger strike for more than three weeks.  He joined the court courtroom with crutches. He looked weakened and answered questions sitting on a chair; the scene that caused the fainting of his wife who was evacuated from the room.

The courtroom was full of bursts, very early on, many journalists, friends, politicians and ordinary citizens had come to the trial to attend.  Politicians such as Rachid Nekaz, representatives of Jil Jadid and the activist of the Gathering for Culture and Democracy (RCD), Feta Sadate were present.  Associations and organizations also followed the process of the trial such as Amnesty International, RAJ, LADDH and the families of the missing among others.

During the trial, the lawyers had the opportunity to share with the press many elements to the accused’s discharge. Mr Hebboul will put his finger on a flaw in the case; it concerns the requisition issued by the Governor of Algiers that was addressed to a police commissioner who was no longer in office, moreover, according to the lawyer the order mentioned the prohibition of Resident Doctors’ demonstrations.

In the minutes drawn up by the police, the lawyers have noted the absence of the name of the officer who wrote the document which makes it legally inadmissible by the court. This will be the object of the plea of Maître Abdellah Haboul, lawyer of Adlène Mellah. The prosecutor will eventually reply that this omission was due to an oversight on the part of the officer in charge.

Still, regarding the police’s statement, the lawyers will notice a glaring error in the description of the unfolding of events. Indeed, in the file of Mellah, it is noted that he was present in two different places at the same time. According to the report, he would have been on December 9, 2018, on the edge of the cafe Tontonville at 3:30 pm. Then he was also listed at the same time and by the minute by the police to the commissariat of the Lower Casbah, a kilometer and a half farther. It is the impossibility of ubiquity that lawyers are advancing to reject their client’s file.

Another grievance retained by the defence is the fact that the three accused, Laadjal, Negrouch And Mellah did not benefit from the regulatory rest at their hearing. Worse yet, Adlène Mellah would not have been entitled to any medical consultation following his custody on December 11, 2018.

Remember that Adléne Mellah had been convicted on December 25, 2018, to one year of imprisonment by the Court of Bab El Oued. He was convicted of crowd gathering, taken as rebellion committed in a meeting of more than two persons, a direct provocation to an unarmed crowd and contempt with violence against state officials and institutions.