The French journalist, Christophe Gleizes, detained in Algeria back in 2024, on terror charges, maybe elibgible for a presidential pardon.
- French journalist Christophe Gleizes, detained in Algeria on terror charges, may now be eligible for a presidential pardon.
- Algeria’s top appeals court rejected calls for a harsher sentence, making the prospect of a pardon viable.
- Gleizes was sentenced to seven years in prison for allegedly glorifying terrorism due to connections with the MAK, a group labeled as a terrorist by Algeria.
- His arrest and legal situation come amid heightened diplomatic tensions between France and Algeria over Western Sahara and colonial legacy disputes.
This was relayed by the journalist’s lawyer on Wednesday, after Algeria’s top appeals court turned down prosecutors’ calls for a harsher sentence.
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The court ultimately made the notion of a presidential pardon viable.
“A decisive step has just been taken regarding the legal situation of Mr Christophe Gleizes,” lawyers Amirouche Bakouri and Emmanuel Daoud said in the joint statement.
“The future of Mr Christophe Gleizes now falls under the prerogatives of the president of the republic,” the lawyers added.
This move is in spite of the tense diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Rift between France and Algeria
![L-R: Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and France's President Emmanuel Macron. [Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images]](https://ocdn.eu/pulscms/MDA_/56a7515897734c6fa13c53a17af60eb4.jpg)
In 2024, France’s President Emmanuel Macron outraged Algiers by voicing support for Morocco’s position in the contested Western Sahara region.
Algeria responded to France’s decision to endorse Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara by withdrawing its ambassador in August of that year.
Since then, a series of arrests, expulsions, and public pronouncements has strained the ties between the two countries.
The French journalist was arrested in the heat of this dispute, in May 2024, as he travelled to northeastern Algeria’s Kabylia region to document Algeria’s most decorated football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie.
He received a seven-year prison sentence on charges of “glorifying terrorism” following his conviction for maintaining communications with affiliates of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), a foreign-based entity classified as a terrorist organization by the Algerian government.
The judicial sentence was sustained upon appeal in December, and subsequently, in March, Mr. Gleizes elected to withdraw his final recourse to the Court of Cassation, as seen on France24.
His lawyers said they “hoped” that a pardon by Tebboune would be granted “as quickly as possible”.
