Moroccans killed in Algeria: a complaint filed in France

A complaint will be filed "on Monday or Tuesday" in France for "aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking and failure to assist a person in danger," said Hakim Chergui, one of the lawyers for the victims’ families. He and his colleague Ghizlane Mouhtaram, who is defending the family in Morocco, cry out in indignation. "The severing of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, at the initiative of the latter, cannot justify the commission of any crime, let alone the impunity of its perpetrators," they wrote. They will add: "This is why, constrained by the silence of the Algerian authorities, on whose territory the murders took place, they have no other choice but to resort to the French justice system so that all the light is shed on this tragedy of unparalleled cruelty."

The two lawyers also stated that the Kissi family is requesting "the greatest diligence from all the parties concerned in order to allow the restitution to his loved ones of the body of Abdelali Mchiouer, currently under the custody of the Algerian justice system, and its burial in Morocco, surrounded by all those who knew and loved him, as soon as possible." They also added that the victims’ families "call [...] for respect for their suffering" and "the greatest vigilance as to the extremist takeovers of all kinds." On Wednesday, the Oujda prosecutor’s office ordered the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of this "violent incident at sea," according to a judicial source. For its part, the Bar Association has decided to sue Algeria before international judicial bodies.

On Tuesday, two Franco-Moroccans among a group of four people, who were jet skiing in Saïdia, a few cables from the maritime border with Algeria, were killed by the Algerian coast guards. According to the testimony of Mohamed Kissi, the elder brother of Bilal, one of the victims, they were four young people - three Franco-Moroccans and one Moroccan - each on a jet ski on the Moroccan coast. "We got lost, but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria. We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian zodiac came towards us, it started zigzagging as if they wanted to knock us over. [...] They (the occupants of the zodiac) shot at us. Thank God, I wasn’t hit but my brother and my friend, they killed them. They arrested my other friend," he recounted. This other friend named Smaïl Snabé is incarcerated in Algeria.

On Sunday, Algeria reacted to the murder of the two Franco-Moroccans. In a statement, the Algerian Ministry of Defense said that "warning shots" were fired and then "gunfire" was opened in the face of the Moroccan vacationers’ "refusal to comply." "After issuing a sound warning and repeatedly summoning them to stop, the suspects refused to comply and fled, performing dangerous maneuvers," the same source said, adding that after several warning shots, "gunfire was opened, forcing one of the jet skis to stop, while the other two fled."