Algerian court detains former Algerian PM on corruption charges

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The Algerian judiciary arrested Noureddine Bedoui, a former prime minister under the late Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, today, Tuesday, making him the third former prime minister to face imprisonment for corruption.

A judge in Algiers had placed Noureddine Bedoui, 62, under judicial supervision and confiscated his passport after his arrest on Sunday, but another court decided to detain him today.

Bedoui served as prime minister for a short period in early 2019, after he was appointed to replace Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, while unprecedented protests against Bouteflika's candidacy for a fifth term rocked the streets throughout Algeria.

However, Bouteflika's decisions did not contribute to calming popular anger, and after only three weeks, he resigned under the pressure of the people and the army, which led to the end of his two-decade rule.

Former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal were sentenced during the presidency of Bouteflika to prison on charges of corruption.

Bedoui, who served as Minister of the Interior for about four years, was considered a Bouteflika loyalist, and the Hirak movement demanded to remove him from office.

After Bouteflika’s fall in the wake of the Hirak demonstrations, the Algerian judiciary opened several investigations into individuals close to the former head of state and the pillars of his regime, and judicial rulings were issued against a number of former senior officials and businessmen, particularly in corruption cases.

Last year, the Algiers Judicial Council issued a 15-year prison sentence for former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and a 12-year sentence for former Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, along with a large group of officials under former President Bouteflika's regime, including relatives and acquaintances of the two imprisoned prime ministers.