An investigation in Morocco is underway to understand the circumstances of this tragedy. The family of the two tourists, including a Franco-Moroccan, killed Tuesday in the open sea by shots attributed to Algerian coast guards announced, through the voice of their lawyers, their intention to file a complaint in France in particular for “aggravated murder “.
The complaint will be filed “Monday or Tuesday” for “aggravated assassination, aggravated assassination attempt, hijacking of a ship and failure to assist a person in danger”, thus announced to AFP Me Hakim Chergui, one of the lawyers of the family of the victims.
A “drama of nameless cruelty”
“The severance of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Algerian Republic, at the initiative of the latter, cannot justify the commission of the slightest crime and even less, the impunity of its perpetrators”, write in a press release Me Chergui and Me Ghizlane Mouhtaram who defends the family in Morocco.
“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 indescribable cruelty”, add the two lawyers.
A Frenchman arrested by the Algerians
According to the testimony of a 33-year-old Franco-Moroccan, Mohamed Kissi, four vacationers, of which he was one, got lost at sea during a jet-ski trip on Tuesday. They were joined by coast guards aboard a boat, who fired on them.
His brother Bilal Kissi, a 29-year-old trader and father of two young children, and his cousin Abdelali Mechouar (or Mchiouer), a 40-year-old trader living in France and father of a five-year-old child, were killed. A friend, Smaïl Snabé, Franco-Moroccan, was arrested by the Algerian coast guard. Mohamed Kissi was rescued by the Moroccan Navy.
The prosecution of Oujda, a city in northeastern Morocco bordering Algeria, on Wednesday ordered the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances “of a violent incident at sea”, according to a judicial source at the agency. Moroccan MAP.
The Kissi family requests “from all the parties concerned the greatest diligence in order to allow the restitution to his relatives of the body of Abdelali Mchiouer, currently under the hand of justice in Algeria, and his burial in Morocco, surrounded by all those who knew and loved him, in the shortest possible time”, let Me Chergui and Mouhtaram know.
The Quai d’Orsay confirmed on Friday the death of a Frenchman and “the imprisonment of another compatriot in Algeria in an incident involving several of our nationals”.