Mustapha Bouchachi, Algerian human rights lawyer, leading voice in the change

Mustapha Bouchachi was moved while the Algerian lawyer and human rights defender recalled the peaceful demonstrations that had swept President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The young protesters "finish what my generation has not managed to do," said the man who became a mentor for the protesters who rallied against "the system".

Bouchachi, in his mid-sixties, took care not to "grab" the youth-led movement, even though he helped formulate his demands, especially in Facebook's video clips that had exceeded 200,000 views. .

Whether he speaks in his former Algiers office or that he addresses to students, he tirelessly explains the goals of what he calls the "smile revolution" .

"I'm proud that many Algerians trust me, but it's a youth protest," he told AFP, denying the status of spokesmen for activists who ended to the reign of two years of Bouteflika on April 2nd.

"We can accompany and give advice, but we must not steal" their movement, he said.

"I cried for joy"

Bouchachi's eyes filled with tears as he remembered his astonishment when crowds of Algerians began to descend peacefully on the streets on February 22nd.

"I was so scared that there was no one there, that we were a few thousand, isolated, as in 2011," he said, referring to the uprisings of the Arab Spring that had started in Tunisia but have largely bypbaded Algeria.

This time, he admitted, "I cried for joy," his grave face turning into a deep smile.

He emphasized the independence of Algeria in 1962 from French colonial rule and said: "I thought that it is these young people who will finally liberate the country, because our fathers have liberated the country. land of Algeria, but the people were not free. "

Bouchachi was seven years old when his father was killed fighting during the independence war.

When asked if he had a political bias, Bouchachi replied without hesitation: "democracy."

"You can not do politics in a totalitarian regime," he said. "All politicians must campaign for the rule of law, it is the priority.That is after that we can have debates between left and right."

"Our only weapon"

Bouchachi studied law in Britain with a scholarship and graduated at age 25.

After defending victims of torture and arbitrary arrests during the Algerian civil war of 1992-2002, he found himself qualified as a "lawyer of the Islamists".

But he stressed that he was "not selective in the fight against human rights violations", adding that "I am now qualified as a secular leftist".

From 2007 to 2012, he was president of the Algerian League of Human Rights, at a time when the regime was using a mixture of repression and social measures to prevent street protests.

He was elected to Parliament in 2012 for the Socialist Front, with the promise of having a "forum for questioning ministers".

But when he found that his questions remained unanswered, Mr. Bouchachi left the Legislative Assembly in 2014 to return to his legal practice.

Over the last few weeks, he has returned to the political scene where, supported by his four student children, he hammers home the message of non-violence.

"Our only weapon is the peaceful nature of the protests," he told the students.

Bouchachi also urged young people to resist the temptation to sweep away all political and official leaders, including those in opposition.

"You have to target the heads of the system," he said. "When they are gone, we can organize ourselves."

He is now hoping for "nine months or a year of transition," a process he believes must include young people who have led street demonstrations, as well as opposition parties, civil society and leaders. policies of the pre-Bouteflika era.

As for the army, we have to be pragmatic, it is a strong institution, we need it for the transition, but they must accompany and not interfere in the affairs of the people. ".