Enforced Disappearance of Mr. Hacen LOUDDI in April 1995

In September 2011, TRIAL submitted an individual communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of Mrs. Halima Louddi. Mrs. Halima Louddi is acting on behalf of her son, Mr. Hacen Louddi, who was abducted on 9 April 1995 in Algiers and has been reported missing ever since. This incident has occurred within the general context of the enforced disappearance of thousands of Algerian citizens at the hands of the army or security forces of the State between 1992 and 1998.

Mr. Hacen Louddi was arrested on 9 April at 14h15 at his workplace by policemen belonging to the Châteauneuf police station. His family and his neighbours have never seen him since. Several detainees at Châteauneuf police station confirmed that Mr. Hacen Louddi had been detained in that place. Mr. Khoursi Nasr El-Din, the last person who has seen Mr. Louddi alive, claimed that Mr. Hacen Louddi was taken out of his cell in the night of 18 November 1995.

Plunged into a situation of distressful uncertainty, the family of the disappeared person, notably Mrs. Halima Louddi, author of the communication, relentlessly took steps to find out her beloved son since the day of his arrest. She repeatedly approached the judicial authorities through the submission of complaints that were never meaningfully processed. A criminal complaint charging abduction was deposed on 29 October 1998. Facing a negligent and ineffective investigating procedure, the victim’s family persisted in its efforts by seizing the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Algiers. The latter trasmitted back the file to the investigating judge several times but to no avail. Eventually on 29 September 2009 the Supreme Court rendered a judgment confirming the dismissal of the case by the investigating judge despite the fact that no effective investigations had been carried out and despite the presence of an array of evidence pointing to the involvement of governmental agents in the disappearance of Mr. Hacen Louddi.

The family of the victim has also approached the Minister of Justice and several other Algerian institutions having a human rights protection mandate, among which the National Observatory of Human Rights (ONDH) and the National Consultive Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (CNCPPDH). Mr. Louddi’s family has also seized the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, yet no information on the victim’s fate and whereabouts could be obtained.

Despite the countless steps taken and the steady hope of the family members to be able to find out about his fate, so far no light has been shed concerning the disappearance of Mr. Hacen Louddi.

The author of the communication, Mrs. Halima Louddi, asks the Human Rights Committee to recognise that Algeria violated articles 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 16 and 23 of theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights against Mr. Hacen Louddi. It is furthermore submitted that the situation gives rise to a violation of articles 2, 7 and 23 of the ICCPR against the author of the communication, Mrs. Halima Louddi, as a result of the psychological suffering endured over the many years of uncertainty concerning the fate of her son.

The proceedings are currently underway before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

General Context

The enforced disappearance of Mr. Hacen Louddi took place within the context of the Algerian civil war. Coming out of a bloody national liberation war, Algeria was plunged into a fratricidal conflict leading to a disproportionate use of violence and massive violations of human rights. According to different information sources, 7,000 to 20,000 persons were arrested or abducted by all corps of Algerian security services and the militia armed by the government between 1992 and 1998, and are still missing.

To date, none of the victims’ families have received information about their relatives, no investigation has ever been opened as a result of the criminal complaint and the procedure they have completed, and, thought the persons who committed the crimes and the backers are known, none of them have ever been prosecuted or troubled.

Furthermore, since the promulgation in February 2006 of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, the victims’ families are confronted with the legal prohibition of bringing their cases, such as that of Mr. Hacen Louddi, before courts at the risk of being sanctioned by the Algerian criminal system because Algeria considers that taking these steps would be tantamount to “exploit and take advantage of the wounds of the national tragedy” and undermine the on-going national reconciliation process.

The decision

In October 2014, the Human Rights Committee communicated its decision (called “views” in the UN language).

The Committee held that Algeria violated Articles 6 § 1, 7, 9, 10 § 1, 16 and 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, taken alone and in conjunction with Article 2 § 3 of the Covenant with regards to the victim.

The Committee also held that Algeria violated Article 7 of the ICCPR, taken alone and in conjunction with Article 2 § 3, with regards to the family of the victim.

The Committee requested Algeria “to conduct a deep and rigorous investigation into the disappearance of Mr. Hacen Louddi”. Algeria is also requested to “provide the authors with detailed information concerning the results of its investigation”, “to free the victim immediately if he is still being secretly detained” or, “if he is deceased, to return his mortal remains to his family”. Moreover, the Committee insisted on Algeria’s obligation to “indict, try and punish those responsible for the violations committed” and to pay an appropriate compensation to the family of the victim for the violations committed.

Algeria is further requested to guarantee the effectiveness of the domestic justice system, especially with respect to victims of torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance and to take steps to avoid the recurrence of similar violations.