Serkadji prison

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The Serkadji Prison (also: Sarkadji Prison ) is a former prison in Algiers , Algeria . It is barely 200 meters from the Ministry of Defense and the headquarters of the gendarmerie. It was opened as Barberousse Prison in 1857 during the French occupation. Guillotine executions took place here during the Algerian War , especially against the backdrop of the Battle of Algiers . The prison was closed in 2014. The facility is used as a national museum.

1995 massacre

Between February 21 and 22, 1995, Algerian security forces carried out a massacre of prisoners as part of a prison riot, in which at least 96 prisoners and 4 guards died.

During the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s, the conflicts between Islamist groups and the security forces had come to a head. The violence came from both sides, and numerous cases of illegal executions of political opponents and prisoners have been documented for the security forces. It has also been confirmed that the security forces used militias to crack down on the insurgents; of the thousands of deaths caused by the security forces, hundreds were extrajudicially executed.

In 1995, around 1,500 prisoners were imprisoned in Serkadji Prison, a maximum security prison in the capital, Algiers , around 1,000 of whom were charged or convicted of terrorism charges.

On Tuesday evening, February 21, 1995, inmates “equipped with self-made knives and other weapons” took seven guards hostage. According to the newspaper Liberté , the mutineers demanded the release of three functionaries of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The uprising was triggered by around 40–50 prisoners to enable around 1,000 prisoners to escape. When the security forces stormed the prison, the FIS chairman Abdelkader Hachani tried in vain to mediate between the two sides.

At least twelve guards were injured and four of the hostages were killed, as well as one person from the storming security forces, and 96 prisoners were killed. Among the dead were two leaders of the Islamic Armed Group (GIA). Lembarek Boumaarafi , convicted of assassinating the Algerian President in 1992, was likely killed. The Tagesspiegel said a day later that he survived injured. The FIS leader Ikhlef Cherati had been killed.

After the massacre, the FIS spoke of the security authorities being premeditated . The action was described as "a premeditated massacre in which 200 prisoners were systematically killed." The diplomatic representative of the FIS in Washington Anwar Haddam called for an independent investigation into the proceedings.

The prison authorities did not allow the bereaved to see the dead before the funeral. The families were not informed that their loved ones are dead to them in unmarked graves with the inscription "x Algérien." Were buried. The graves were unmarked and did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about who were buried. There was evidence that some of the prisoners were mutilated by throwing grenades into the cramped cells. Amnesty International noted that nearly two years after the incident, no independent investigation had been conducted. An international medical delegation was not allowed access to the dead or files. Massive irregularities were found in the work of the Algerian state investigation group. Amnesty summed it up: "The fact that an adequate investigation has not yet been conducted can only increase concerns about the unwillingness to hold those responsible for extrajudicial executions and other violations accountable."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://taz.de/!1519147/
  2. ↑ http://1000autres.org/les-guillotines-de-barberousse-en-1957-par-gilles-manceron
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-J4R5Iz_GY
  4. ↑ Amnesty International (ed.), Algeria: Fear and Silence - A Human Rights Crisis in Secret, Bonn 1996, pp. 38–42.
  5. ↑ Amnesty International (ed.), Algeria: Fear and Silence - A Human Rights Crisis in Secret, Bonn 1996, pp. 28–37.
  6. ↑ Amnesty International: Annual Report 1996 - Algeria (reporting period 1995) (accessed on June 9, 2010) ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amnesty.de
  7. ↑ 95 dead in mutiny in Algerian prison, in: Stuttgarter Zeitung, from February 23, 1995
  8. ↑ a b Algeria. Bloodbath in prison after the fundamentalist revolt, in: Frankfurter Rundschau No. 046 of February 23, 1995, edition: R Region
  9. ↑ Dominic Johnson : Algerian Apocalypse - Brutal suppression of a prison revolt in Algiers at the end of a bloody Ramadan, in: the daily newspaper of February 24, 1995
  10. ↑ a b Group Amnesty Criticises Algerian Killings, p. 532; in: BMJ: British Medical Journal, Vol. 312, No. 7030 (Mar. 2, 1996)
  11. ^ Bloodbath after mutiny in Algerian prison At least 95 fatalities, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 23, 1995
  12. ^ A b FIS: Intentional massacre. Serious allegations after the bloodily suppressed rebellion, in: Der Tagesspiegel, No. 15191 of February 24, 1995
  13. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Islamists: Prison massacre was planned on February 24, 1995 (accessed on June 9, 2010)
  14. ↑ Amnesty International (ed.), Algeria: Fear and Silence - A Human Rights Crisis in Secret, Bonn 1996, pp. 38–42, quoted from: p. 42

Coordinates: 36 ° 46 '59.9 "  N , 3 ° 3' 37.1"  E