The Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lounès Magramane, received on Saturday at the Ministry’s headquarters the French Ambassador to Algeria, Mr. Stéphane Romatet, to convey Algeria’s strong protest following the decision by French judicial authorities to charge and place in provisional detention one of its consular agents serving on French soil, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Community Abroad, and African Affairs.
The statement specifies that this meeting aimed to “express Algeria’s strong protest against the decision by French judicial authorities to charge and place in provisional detention one of its consular agents serving on French soil, as part of the opening of a judicial investigation into the alleged abduction of the delinquent Amir Boukhors, known as AmirDZ, in 2024.”
“Algeria firmly rejects, both in form and substance, the reasons cited by the French Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office to justify its decision to place the consular agent in provisional detention,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized.
“Regarding the form, Algeria recalls that the consular agent was arrested in a public place and placed in custody without notification through diplomatic channels, in blatant violation of the immunities and privileges associated with his functions at the Algerian Consulate in Créteil, as well as the customary practices in this matter between Algeria and France,” the statement noted.
It further added that “on the substance, Algeria particularly notes the fragility and inconsistency of the flimsy and far-fetched arguments invoked by the security services of the French Ministry of the Interior during the hearings, which base this unacceptable judicial plot solely on the fact that the consular agent’s mobile phone allegedly pinged near the address of the individual Amir Boukhors.”
“Algeria calls for the immediate release of the consular agent placed in provisional detention and demands that the rights associated with his functions, under both international conventions and bilateral agreements, be scrupulously respected to allow him to defend himself properly and under the most basic conditions,” the statement insisted.
According to the same source, “this judicial development, unprecedented in the history of Algerian-French relations, is not a coincidence, and its occurrence comes in a specific context with the aim of sabotaging the process of revitalizing bilateral relations agreed upon by the two Heads of State during their recent telephone conversation.”
“This unfortunate and ill-timed development proves that certain French parties are not driven by the same desire to revitalize bilateral relations and that the commitment of both sides does not converge on the good faith and sincerity necessary to create the conditions for a calm resumption of normal bilateral relations,” the statement continued.
“We cannot help but be surprised by the cynical choice made by those undermining the normalization of bilateral relations regarding the thug used as the catalyst for this new premeditated action. The clumsy haste to use this delinquent as a new emblem of the anti-Algerian rhetoric driving his instigators contrasts with the long-standing passivity shown in addressing the extradition requests issued by Algerian authorities against this subversive activist linked to terrorist organizations.”
“This new unacceptable and indefensible development will cause significant harm to Algerian-French relations and will not contribute to de-escalation. Algeria has no intention of letting this situation pass without consequences, just as it will fully and resolutely ensure the protection of its consular agent,” concluded the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
