Algerian prosecutors have requested a 10-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, accused of undermining the country’s territorial integrity, local media reported Thursday.
Sansal, a prominent figure in North African modern francophone literature, is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.
The 80-year-old was detained in November upon arrival at Algiers airport, at a time of growing tensions between France and its former colony.
A verdict in the case, which has received widespread attention in France, is expected on March 27.
Relations between France and Algeria have deteriorated since President Emmanuel Macron in July 2024 expressed support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The former Spanish colony is mostly controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front, which seeks a UN-backed self-determination referendum that has never materialised since a 1991 ceasefire.
Macron said Thursday he hoped for “a swift resolution” so that Sansal could “regain his freedom”.
“We are dealing with a great writer, who is also ill,” Macron told reporters in Brussels, saying he trusted that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune would appreciate that the case had little basis.
According to the Algerian media outlet TSA, Sansal was charged with “affecting national unity, insulting a constitutional body, practices of a nature likely to harm the national economy, and possession of videos and publications threatening the security and stability of the country”.
Prosecutors accuse him of making statements undermining the country’s territorial integrity.
In an October interview with the far-right French media outlet Frontieres, Sansal said France had reduced Moroccan territory to the benefit of Algeria during its colonisation of North Africa.
According to French newspaper Le Monde, the comments infuriated authorities in Algeria.
– Health concerns –
At a court near Algiers, Sansal on Thursday denied any intention of attacking Algeria, the newspaper Echorouk reported. He said that he had only “expressed an opinion like any Algerian citizen”.
He admitted that he had not considered the fact that his comments could be considered as attacks on Algerian institutions, and said that he is an “Algerian who loves his country”, Echorouk said.
It added that Sansal had no lawyer and “preferred to act in his own defence”.
Sansal’s French lawyer, Francois Zimeray, last week said his client had neither proper access to lawyers nor to medical care, accusations the authorities denied.
In 2015, Sansal won the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy, the guardians of the French language, for his book “2084: The End of the World”, a dystopian novel set in an Islamist totalitarian world in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
