2023-09-05 13:36:01
Two men were shot on August 29 during a jet-ski trip on the border between Morocco and Algeria. The Algerian Ministry of Defense speaks of “shots fired” in the face of “a refusal to comply”.
They died at sea, in a border area between Morocco and Algeria. Bilal Kissi, a Franco-Moroccan holidaymaker, and his cousin Abdelali Mechouar were killed by Algerian coastguards after getting lost at sea on Tuesday (August 29th). Algeria assures that its agents fired in the face “to a refusal to comply”but the family of the two vacationers speaks of a “drama of nameless cruelty”. His lawyers filed a complaint against X in France, Tuesday September 5, for “aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking and failure to assist a person in peril”. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this affair, for which an investigation into the “circumstances of death”, still unclear, has also been opened in Morocco.
“Lost” vacationers
Tuesday, August 29, Bilal Kissi leaves at the end of the day with his cousin Abdelali Mechouar from the Moroccan seaside resort of Saidia, on the border with Algeria, aboard jet skis, according to the testimony of his older brother, Mohamed Kissi, also present during the exit. Smaïl Snabé, a friend presented as a Franco-Moroccan, completes the group. ” We got lost. We were running out of gas for the jet skis and were drifting. In the dark, we found ourselves in Algerian waters”says Mohamed Kissi to the Moroccan media Le360. “A black Algerian Zodiac came towards us and started to zigzag as if he wanted to knock us down”, he says to the Moroccan media Al Omk. The occupants of the boat “shot at us. They killed my brother and my friend. They arrested my other friend,” he said.
Two men killed, another detained in Algeria
Bilal Kissi was a 29-year-old trader, father of two children. His body was found on the beach, on the Moroccan side of the border. He was buried Thursday in the presence of dozens of relatives in the village of Bni Drar, near Oujda, a town bordering Algeria, according to images obtained by AFP. Rescued by the Moroccan Navy, his older brother, Mohamed Kissi, was able to return to the beach safe and sound. Their cousin Abdelali Mechouar was also a merchant in France, holder of a regular residence permit, 40 years old and father of a 5-year-old child. His family is demanding that his body be returned to them as soon as possible.
Paris a confirmed the death of a Frenchman of Moroccan origin and “the incarceration of another compatriot in Algeria in an incident involving several of our nationals”. The fourth other member of the group, Smaïl Snabé, also Franco-Moroccan, was indeed arrested by the Algerian coast guard. Wounded, he is detained in Algeria. “A third young person is still in intensive care in Oujda”, said, without giving his identity or nationality, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), an official Moroccan constitutional body, independent of the government. The CNDH also revealed that Smaïl Snabé “was sentenced to eighteen months” prison in Algeria, without giving the reasons.
Algiers evokes a “refusal to comply”
“During a security and control patrol in our territorial waters, a coastguard unit intercepted, on Tuesday at 7:47 p.m. [20h47 heure de Paris]three jet skis having smuggled across our territorial waters”relates, for its part, the Algerian Ministry of Defense, in a press release published on Sunday. “After issuing an audible warning and summoning them to stop several times, the defendants refused to comply and fled by performing dangerous maneuvers”, continues the ministry. After several “warning shots”, “shots were fired, forcing one of the jet skis to stop, while the other two fled”he adds.
The ministry explains these shootings by “increased activity of drug gangs and organized crime” in this border area and by “the stubbornness of jet-ski passengers”. He also asks for “do not pay attention to the false information circulating aimed at harming the honorable image of the army” Algerian.
A complaint from the family of the two victims filed in France
The family of Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Mechouar filed a complaint in France for “aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking and failure to assist a person in danger”according to the document consulted by franceinfo.
“This is the reason why, constrained by the silence of the Algerian authorities, on whose territory the assassinations took place, they have no choice but to resort to French justice so that all the light is shed. on this drama of nameless cruelty”, add the two lawyers. The families of the victims “call (…) for respect for their suffering” et “to the greatest vigilance with regard to extremist recoveries on all sides”family attorneys said on Sunday.
The Oujda prosecutor’s office, on which Saïdia depends, has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances “of a violent incident at sea”according to the Moroccan agency MAP. “The prosecution has been notified. It will be up to the courts to shed full light on the circumstances of this tragedy”confirmed the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A case against the backdrop of tensions between Morocco and Algeria
This case risks exacerbating the sharp friction between Morocco and Algeria, fueled by their antagonism over the issue of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the United Nations in the absence of a final settlement. The CNDH has “condemned the use of live ammunition by the Algerian Coast Guard against defenseless citizens, instead of rescuing people lost at sea, which is a serious violation of international standards”, according to a statement released on Sunday. Rabat has not yet spoken officially.
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