“Luxembourg must not forget my husband”

(CS/jsf) Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies on Monday in a show of solidarity with Medjdoub Chani, an Algerian-Luxembourg national recently sentenced to 10 years in prison in Algeria.

“My husband has suffered to much,” said his wife, Margy Chani-Pesch, who last saw her husband three years ago. “He was kidnapped, abused and forced to a confession.”

Chani was arrested by the Algerian intelligence service in 2009 when travelling to Algeria to see his ailing mother. He had left the country in the 1980s after meeting his Luxembourgish wife and worked in the Grand Duchy as a financial advisor and trustee.

In 2006 he was appointed as a mediator by a Chinese construction company building a motorway across the north of Algeria. The 63-year-old was sentenced for corruption by an Algerian court in May, after being found guilty of bribing Algerian officials to benefit the contractor.

His family, however, claim that the allegations are false and that Chani is the victim of a power struggle between president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the army and the secret service. They say that he was tortured following his arrest and forced to sign a confession.

Lawyers representing Chani had tried to make these abuses heard by the court but they were not acknowledged. Legal proceedings are ongoing in Luxembourg under the universal jurisdiction over human rights abuses. 

In protest against his sentence, Chani entered a hunger strike 22 days ago. “His hunger strike is an act of desperation,” his wife said Monday. “I have the impression that my husband is meant to die in prison,” she said of his treatment.

Chani has been detained in Algeria since 2009. His sons, aged 21 and 27, have not seen their father in six years. The family has been advised not to travel to Algeria for their own safety.

In an emotional appeal for help, Chani's wife at the protest said: “Luxembourg must not forget my husband,” adding: “It cannot be that a Luxembourger dies in an Algerian prison.”

Not-for-profit Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, who helped organise the protest, commented that Luxembourg is responsible for the fate of Chani.

Chani's wife and a number of supporters were met by Chamber of Deputies president Mars Di Bartolomeo on Monday, following the protest. “He assured us support,” Margy Chani-Pesch said.

Find out more on soutienachani.org