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The corruption trial of the younger brother of ousted Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, due to open this month, will be postponed for two weeks, local press reported on Sunday after his brother’s death earlier this month.
A court in Algiers, the capital, would have accepted the delay requested by defense lawyer Miloud Brahimi, citing the “psychological state” of Saïd Bouteflika. The elder Bouteflika died on September 17.
Algerian media reported that Said, 63, a former presidential adviser, appeared pale and weak at the court hearing.
Although defense attorney Brahimi was able to postpone the trial for two weeks, his request for bail for Bouteflika was not granted.
Not his first try
In May 2019, a month after his brother was forced to step down due to mass protests across the country, Said Bouteflika was arrested.
Algerians took to the streets to prevent Bouteflika from trying to get a fifth term.
Said was acquitted of a 15-year prison sentence for “conspiring” against the army and the state in a retrial in January 2021, but remains in detention for corruption, along with other friends of Bouteflika.
The younger brother was widely regarded as the real power in Algeria after Abdelaziz Bouteflika suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013.
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