The Soltani Affair and its possibe implications, I

Here is Soltani’s denial of the torture accusations raised against him by Anwar Abdelmalek. He claims that he was in Yemen at the time he alleged to have committed the act.:

Eclaboussé par une affaire de torture, le dirigeant du Mouvement de la société pour la paix, Bouguerra Soltani, a démenti hier en marge d’une rencontre au siège du parti, avoir participé à une telle pratique.

« Où se pratique la torture, chez moi ou au siège du parti ? », lance tout de go le chef du MSP avant d’ajouter : « Comment aurais-je pu assister à une séance de torture à Châteauneuf. Est-ce qu’un citoyen algérien est en droit d’assister à une telle pratique sans autorisation des autorités concernées ? » Tout en affirmant, en marge d’une rencontre-débat sur la loi de finances 2010, que le plaignant qui l’accuse auprès des autorités suisses a « menti ». Bouguerra Soltani souligne qu’à la date du 1er juillet 2005, qui correspond à celle où Anouar Malek dit avoir été torturé par les services secrets, il se trouvait en dehors du territoire national.

« J’étais en mission officielle à Sanaâ pour participer à la 32e session de la Conférence islamique », indique Soltani en notant qu’après cette mission, il s’est dirigé vers la ville libyenne de Syrte dans le cadre aussi d’une mission officielle. « J’ai toujours en ma possession l’ordre de mission de la Présidence ainsi que le badge pour assister à la Conférence, je peux vous les montrer. J’ai toutes les preuves que du 28 juin au 7 juillet 2005 je n’étais pas en Algérie. » Ceci et d’ajouter : « Je n’ai reçu aucune convocation de la justice suisse. » Pour rappel, Anouar Malek, journaliste et écrivain en exil en France, était au moment des faits chef de service du commissariat politique, et Bouguerra Soltani était ministre d’Etat.

Par N. B.

It is important to ask:

• The alleged incident occurred in 2005: why has Abdelmalek not raised the matter until 2009?
• How consistent is Abdelmalek’s story? Abdelmalek worked in counter terrorism and has accused Soltani of recruiting Algerians to go to Afghanistan. Does he have an ulterior motive and which Algerians are backing him?
• Why was the case filed in Switzerland, where no legal action could be is likely to have been taken?
• What are the political ramifications of the affair? Will it affect the MSP’s standing in the cabinet or parliament?
• Why is Abdelmalek, who claims to have been ordered to carry out actions “against his conscience” pursuing Soltani alone but not other officials?
• Why have Abdelmalek’s comments been published in the pages of ech-Chorouk, which is usually not hostile to the government? Ech-Chorouk is also know to publish sensational (if not false, as in the case of the recent football madness), nutty, anti-Semitic and otherwise wretched stories. Regardless of its wide circulation, why would Abdelmalek publish there?
• Soltani has many enemies in and out of government, and in his own party (e.g., Abdelmadjid Menasra, though he’s actually split from the party). He has faced corruption accusations (for deals with Chinese fishing companies), and made some claims of his own against others. Many see the frequent scandals around Soltani as part of efforts at revenge. If this is one, who stands to benefit from it (beyond Abdelmalek)?
• If the affair ends up discrediting Soltani and his party ends up with a new leader, who is it and does that man have anything to do with what’s going on now?
• What role has Bouteflika or any of the major bureaucratic, military and political clans play in this, if at all?
• Is the case relevant to the average Algerian?

As Houwari points out in the comments of the previous post, its important to look at the Soltani Affair in terms of regime politics. That the chief of a major governing political party would personally direct a torture session is itself a difficult scenario to fathom. Soltani has enemies, Abdelmalek is just one. Abdelmalek’s displeasure with the Algerian regime is mostly focused on Soltani individually, not institutionally — that is, he has not attacked other elements in the regime. Soltani and the MSP are lams before wolves, dependent on stronger factions for their position and authority. At once this could mean that Abdelmalek really is only looking for the person who tortured him or it could mean that he represents another attempt to bring Soltani down from within the regime (either the deep state or even the presidency) — or both. The MSP is in a rough spot of late: several of its ranking members have been implicated in a number of corruption cases and it is likely that they will suffer for having been caught. Is there a connection between Abdelmalek and the series of MSP leaders being exposed for corruption? That Ech-Chorouk is publishing Abdelmalek’s protests against Soltani says that there are powerful people interested in the case, but those reasons are still unclear. More to come.