Bouteflika and his three co-defendants had been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Following this surprise ruling, Saïd Bouteflika will be transferred to another prison pending trial in other cases relating to corruption during his brother’s 20 year rule, according to a judicial source.
Bouteflika was held in a military prison. Along with Bouteflika, General Mohamed Mediène, Athmane Tartag, and activist Louisa Hanoune, convicted in this case, were acquitted on appeal by the military court of Blida, according to their defense lawyer, Khaled Berghel.
The four defendants were arrested in May 2019 and sentenced in September of the same year to 15 years in prison at a trial before the military court of Blida, near Algiers.
ALGIERS, Algeria
A military appeals court in Algeria on Saturday cleared the brother of the country’s longtime former leader, two ex-intelligence chiefs and the leader of a leftist political party who had all been accused of plotting against the state.
Among the four defendants was Said Bouteflika, the brother and once-powerful special counsellor of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who forced to resign from office in April 2019 amid growing peaceful street protests.
The others were former intelligence figures Gen. Athmane Tartag and Gen. Mohamed Mediene, who was known Toufik a name that once made Algerians tremble and the leader of a leftist political party, Louisa Hanoune, for decades a fixture on Algeria’s political scene.
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Algerian ex-presidentâs brother, former spy bosses cleared
FILE - In this Thursday, May 4, 2017 file photo, Said Bouteflika, the brother of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, takes ballots before voting in Algiers. A military appeal court in Algeria on Saturday has cleared the brother of the country s longtime former leader, two ex-intelligence chiefs and the leader of a leftist political party who had all been accused of plotting against the state. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub, File) January 02, 2021 - 9:34 AM
ALGIERS, Algeria - A military appeals court in Algeria on Saturday cleared the brother of the countryâs longtime former leader, two ex-intelligence chiefs and the leader of a leftist political party who had all been accused of plotting against the state.