Algeria Withholds Body of Moroccan Jet Skier Killed by Coast Guard, Family Awaits Return

Lost on a jet ski off the coast of Algeria, Moroccan vacationer Abdelali Mchiouer, 40, was killed by the Algerian coast guards on August 29. His cousin, Franco-Moroccan Bilal Kissi, 29, met the same fate. They were accompanied by Mohamed Kissi, 33, Bilal’s brother, who was rescued by the Moroccan coast guards who were searching for them, and their friend Smaïl Snabi, arrested and then convicted in Algeria. While Bilal’s funeral has already taken place, that of Abdelali remains uncertain. To date, his remains, kept in the morgue in Tlemcen, Algeria, have still not been returned to the family despite the steps taken by Hakim Chergui, the lawyer representing the families of the two victims.

The day after the Saïdia tragedy, he contacted the Moroccan consulate in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to obtain a document attesting to the consent of the Moroccan authorities to receive the body. A document required by the Algerian Ministry of the Interior to return Abdelali’s body. As soon as this document was received, it was planned that the file would be immediately submitted to the Algerian authorities, with the conviction that the process would take place on an institutional rather than a political basis, since it would be discussed at the level of the wilaya, the lawyer stressed to the press. To date, the victim’s body is still in Algeria.

Hakim Chergui had filed a complaint in France for "aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking and failure to assist a person in danger". The Oujda prosecutor’s office had ordered the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances "of a violent incident at sea". France, for its part, has opened an investigation for voluntary homicide, which "should make it possible in particular to have a legal framework to collect elements." The Paris Assize Court will work on a request for judicial cooperation addressed to the Moroccan and Algerian authorities, the lawyer specified.