Family of Ahmed Boulares, disappeared in Algeria, demand truth and justice
Name(s):
Ahmed Boulares
Status:
Forcibly disappeared
Year of birth:
1957
Profession:
Physicist
Nationality:
Algerian
Date of arrest:
Ahmed Boulares was forcibly disappeared in the context of the Algerian civil war that ravaged the country in the 1990s. He was arrested on July 5, 1994, by the Military Security. Since then, his family has received contradicting information about his fate and whereabouts. While some former detainees claimed that they saw him in various detention centers, other sources suggest that he was summarily executed in the months following his arrest.
In the 1990s, Algeria was plunged into a civil war known as the “dark decade”, during which the country experienced a widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearances. The number of people who disappeared during the civil war ranges from at least 7’000 to 20’000 according to estimates. Ahmed Boulares, an Algerian physicist at the University of Blida, was among them.
Boulares was arrested on July 5, 1994, when agents of the Military Security (also known as Département du renseignement et de la sécurité, or DRS) raided his home in Blida. In the weeks following his arrest, DRS agents carried out several searches at Boulares’ home. They were looking for Boulares’ personal belongings, such as his books, computer and other electronic devices.
During one of subsequent searches, Boulares was spotted inside a military car in the vicinity of his mother’s home. Since then, his family has received contradicting information about his fate and whereabouts.
In the weeks following his arrest, witnesses claimed to have seen Boulares in the company of Fouad Bouchelaghem, a lecturer in physics, at the University of Blida laboratory, both escorted by members of the DRS.
Following the disappearance of his son, Boulares’ father undertook numerous searches with government agencies, including the security forces, hospitals and cemeteries in the region. When meeting with the gendarmerie, the victim’s father was informed that his son had been held in detention centres in Bou Saada, Ben Aknoun and Médéa. The gendarmerie also told him that his son had been killed during a transfer, in an exchange of fire with armed groups in the locality of Oued Alleug, in the wilaya of Blida. Boulares’ father was then referred to the Blida-Joinville psychiatric hospital, where he was told that his son was dead and had been buried in the Blida cemetery in October 1994. However, when he asked the cemetery’s caretaker to describe the physiognomy of the person buried under the name Ahmed Boulares, the description did not match his son’s physical appearance.
In 2008, Abdelkader Tigha, a former DRS officer stationed at the Territorial Centre for Research and Investigation (CTRI) in Blida, published a book in which he claims that he investigated the enforced disappearances of Boulares and Mohamed Rosli. The alleged investigation concluded that Boulares and Rosli were both summarily executed after being subjected to acts of torture. Following his investigation, he allegedly drew up a report that he transmitted to Djabber M’Henna, the head of the CTRI in Blida at the time. Shortly after, he was reportedly summoned and instructed never to involve the CTRI in cases of torture or disappearance. In September 2022, M’Henna was appointed as the Director of the Documentation and External Security service.
Other sources indicate, however, that Boulares was still alive in the years following his disappearance. A friend of Boulares stated that he had seen and spoken to him several times during his incarceration inside Blida military prison in 1996. Also in 1996, one of the officers responsible for his Boulares’ abduction claimed that he was still alive and that he was still being held in the Blida military prison.
On February 25, 2004, Boulares’ wife sent letters to several administrations about her husband’s fate and whereabouts, including the Presidency of the Republic, the Prime Minister's office, the Ministries of Justice and of the Interior. She was then advised to reach out to the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The Commission advised her to ask the Ain Naadja’s gendarmerie to look into her husband’s disappearance.
As a result, Boulares’ father was then summoned by the Prosecutor at the court of Blida to open a file on the forcible disappearance of his son. However, the Prosecutor never informed Boulares’ relatives of the progress of the case.
On November 22, 2011, Boulares’ father applied for a declaration of death by judgment in accordance with the 2006 Ordinance No. 06-01 implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. At that time, the Algerian authorities encouraged families of victims to apply for a death certificate in order to obtain compensation. Such practice was highlighted by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), which described such process as “a form of inhuman and degrading treatment for such persons laying them up to additional victimization.”
After the Larbaa court declared Boulares dead, the Larbaa gendarmerie contacted the victim’s father several times to encourage him to sign documents attesting to the death of his son. The gendarmes allegedly showed him a medical document confirming the death of his son, without him being allowed to obtain a copy. Although Boulares’ father eventually signed the documents in order to put an end to the pressure exerted by the gendarmes, he and the rest of the family refused to take the necessary steps to obtain compensation.
Given the absence of domestic remedies, Boulares’ wife requested the intervention of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) on October 31, 2012. On February 15, 2023, MENA Rights Group seized the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of the Boulares family, invoking several violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In our complaint, we and the Boulares family urge Algeria to release Boulares immediately if he is still alive, undertake a thorough and diligent investigation into his disappearance and fate, and initiate criminal proceedings against the persons responsible for Boulares’ disappearance to bring them to justice in accordance with Algeria’s international commitments.
| Name(s): |
Ahmed Boulares
|
| Status: |
Forcibly disappeared
|
| Year of birth: |
1957
|
| Profession: |
Physicist
|
| Nationality: |
Algerian
|
| Date of arrest: |
|
In the 1990s, Algeria was plunged into a civil war known as the “dark decade”, during which the country experienced a widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearances. The number of people who disappeared during the civil war ranges from at least 7’000 to 20’000 according to estimates. Ahmed Boulares, an Algerian physicist at the University of Blida, was among them.
Boulares was arrested on July 5, 1994, when agents of the Military Security (also known as Département du renseignement et de la sécurité, or DRS) raided his home in Blida. In the weeks following his arrest, DRS agents carried out several searches at Boulares’ home. They were looking for Boulares’ personal belongings, such as his books, computer and other electronic devices.
During one of subsequent searches, Boulares was spotted inside a military car in the vicinity of his mother’s home. Since then, his family has received contradicting information about his fate and whereabouts.
In the weeks following his arrest, witnesses claimed to have seen Boulares in the company of Fouad Bouchelaghem, a lecturer in physics, at the University of Blida laboratory, both escorted by members of the DRS.
Following the disappearance of his son, Boulares’ father undertook numerous searches with government agencies, including the security forces, hospitals and cemeteries in the region. When meeting with the gendarmerie, the victim’s father was informed that his son had been held in detention centres in Bou Saada, Ben Aknoun and Médéa. The gendarmerie also told him that his son had been killed during a transfer, in an exchange of fire with armed groups in the locality of Oued Alleug, in the wilaya of Blida. Boulares’ father was then referred to the Blida-Joinville psychiatric hospital, where he was told that his son was dead and had been buried in the Blida cemetery in October 1994. However, when he asked the cemetery’s caretaker to describe the physiognomy of the person buried under the name Ahmed Boulares, the description did not match his son’s physical appearance.
In 2008, Abdelkader Tigha, a former DRS officer stationed at the Territorial Centre for Research and Investigation (CTRI) in Blida, published a book in which he claims that he investigated the enforced disappearances of Boulares and Mohamed Rosli. The alleged investigation concluded that Boulares and Rosli were both summarily executed after being subjected to acts of torture. Following his investigation, he allegedly drew up a report that he transmitted to Djabber M’Henna, the head of the CTRI in Blida at the time. Shortly after, he was reportedly summoned and instructed never to involve the CTRI in cases of torture or disappearance. In September 2022, M’Henna was appointed as the Director of the Documentation and External Security service.
Other sources indicate, however, that Boulares was still alive in the years following his disappearance. A friend of Boulares stated that he had seen and spoken to him several times during his incarceration inside Blida military prison in 1996. Also in 1996, one of the officers responsible for his Boulares’ abduction claimed that he was still alive and that he was still being held in the Blida military prison.
On February 25, 2004, Boulares’ wife sent letters to several administrations about her husband’s fate and whereabouts, including the Presidency of the Republic, the Prime Minister's office, the Ministries of Justice and of the Interior. She was then advised to reach out to the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The Commission advised her to ask the Ain Naadja’s gendarmerie to look into her husband’s disappearance.
As a result, Boulares’ father was then summoned by the Prosecutor at the court of Blida to open a file on the forcible disappearance of his son. However, the Prosecutor never informed Boulares’ relatives of the progress of the case.
On November 22, 2011, Boulares’ father applied for a declaration of death by judgment in accordance with the 2006 Ordinance No. 06-01 implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. At that time, the Algerian authorities encouraged families of victims to apply for a death certificate in order to obtain compensation. Such practice was highlighted by the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), which described such process as “a form of inhuman and degrading treatment for such persons laying them up to additional victimization.”
After the Larbaa court declared Boulares dead, the Larbaa gendarmerie contacted the victim’s father several times to encourage him to sign documents attesting to the death of his son. The gendarmes allegedly showed him a medical document confirming the death of his son, without him being allowed to obtain a copy. Although Boulares’ father eventually signed the documents in order to put an end to the pressure exerted by the gendarmes, he and the rest of the family refused to take the necessary steps to obtain compensation.
Given the absence of domestic remedies, Boulares’ wife requested the intervention of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) on October 31, 2012. On February 15, 2023, MENA Rights Group seized the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of the Boulares family, invoking several violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In our complaint, we and the Boulares family urge Algeria to release Boulares immediately if he is still alive, undertake a thorough and diligent investigation into his disappearance and fate, and initiate criminal proceedings against the persons responsible for Boulares’ disappearance to bring them to justice in accordance with Algeria’s international commitments.
