By T. Tilleli v

( Algiers) – Yesterday, the Algerian court of Algiers delivered an acquittal to 49 innocent Kabylians who were pursued for their political activism which is related to Kabylia’s self-determination movement.

Among the defendants, several have already served arbitrary sentences, namely: Hocine Azem, Lounes Hamzi, Mourad Chabane, Abdenour Abdeslam, Mustapha Akouche, Muloud Mebarki, Razik Zouaou, etc.

However, Mira Moknache is still in prison, and serving an arbitrary sentence of 5 years.

All have been condemned under article 87 bis, which labels any dissent as a terrorist. Thus, the main purpose of the second proceedings is to keep Kabylia’s activists under the policy of attrition to mentally harass them in order to push away these activists from the Kabylia self-determination movement.

This acquittal is unexpected and a surprise from a subservient justice that targets any vocal activist. Therefore, clearing charges against these activists might be a fallacious policy of the Algerian state to smooth the repression climate in Kabylia in order to encourage and boost Kabylia’s citizens vote turnout in the next legislative elections that are scheduled on July 2nd, 2026, insofar as Kabylia’s citizens are accustomed to boycott the Algerian elections.