The corruption trial of Said Bouteflika – younger brother to ousted Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika which was initially slated to begin this month, will be postponed for two weeks. This is coming following the death of Abdelaziz Bouteflika earlier this month.
A court in Algiers, the capital agreed to the delay requested by defence lawyer Miloud Brahimi, citing Said’s “psychological condition.” The elder Bouteflika died on September 17.
Although defence lawyer Brahimi was able to postpone the trial by two weeks, his request to have Bouteflika released on bail was not accepted. The sixty-three-year-old, a former presidential adviser, appeared pale and weak at the court hearing.
He was first detained in May 2019, one month after his brother was forced out of office due to the mass protests across Algeria.
Algerians took to the streets to prevent Bouteflika from trying to gain a fifth term in office. Said was cleared of a 15-year sentence for “plotting” against the army and the state in a retrial in January 2021, but remains in custody on corruption charges, along with other associates of Bouteflika.
He was generally seen as the true power in Algeria after Abdelaziz Bouteflika suffered an incapacitating stroke in 2013.