Senator Valerie Pouillé of France’s right-wing Republican Party urged Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to take an official stance on “human rights violations” in Algeria’s Amazigh-speaking Kabylia region.
The senator referenced Algeria’s broad definition of terrorism since 2021, after amendments to the Algerian Penal Code, particularly Article 87 bis, by dropping this description on any demand for “changing the system of government through unconstitutional means.”
Tha parliamentarian stated, based on French media, that the Algerian ruling regime has designated the Movement for Self-Determination in Kabylie (MAK) as a “terrorist” group.
The Republican Senator slammed the regime’s actions, including the imprisonment of over five hundred tribesmen and accusing them of “falsely” promoting terrorism. She also condemned the detention of leaders, activists, and journalists, as well as the repression of nonviolent activists in the Kabylie area. In particular, she highlighted the imprisonment of tribal youngsters for peaceful gatherings, writings, social media posts, and the wearing of tribal (Berber) flags.
Statistics from 2019 have shown that Christian converts endure repression in the region. The Kabylia region’s thirteen Protestant rites-focused worship spaces were shuttered, she elaborated.
Pouillé defended Farhat Mehanni, the leader of the MAK movement and the Kabylia government, who was given a life sentence in Algeria for forming a terrorist group and threatening national unity.
Senator Valerie Pouillé ascribed Farhat Mehanni’s condemnation to Algeria’s “severe suppression” of tribes’ linguistic, cultural, and institutional demands, which began before the country’s independence. Various tribal combatants defending Algeria’s pluralistic ideology were marginalized and assassinated between 1949 and 1956.