Former Algerian president’s brother gets 12 years for corruption

An Algerian court has imposed a 12-year prison sentence on the younger brother of the country’s late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, after convicting him of corruption under his brother’s 20-year rule.

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Once seen as one of Algeria’s most powerful men, Said Bouteflika was an unofficial counsellor to the president — who died in 2021, about two years after a pro-democracy movement forced him from office.

The Algiers court late Wednesday also fined Said Bouteflika, 65, more than $500,000. In addition to the ex-leader’s brother, the court convicted of corruption and imposed prison sentences on the former chief of the Algerian employers’ association and three business magnates, among others.

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Said Bouteflika was accused of being at the center of a system that bred new wealth for politicians and industrialists in the gas-rich North African country.

After his brother, the president, was removed from office under pressure from the pro-democracy Hirak movement and the army, a series of arrests was put in motion under an anti-corruption drive. Among those currently detained are three former prime ministers, several former ministers, lawmakers and businessmen, all suspected of corruption. Others fled the country.