A conference on this topic was cancelled at the last time by the Town hall.

The town hall of Paris is not the suitable place to speak about impunity in Algeria. Nadia Matoub, the widow of the famous Berber singer Lounès Matoub, assassinated in 1998 in Algeria under disconcerting conditions, has just learned it at her costs.

At the beginning of August, via the assistant in charge of new technologies of Bertrand Delanoe, the young woman installed in France reserved a room at the town hall of Paris for a conference on the topic of impunity “as form of government” in Algeria. Appointment is taken for September 26.

Are announced Patrick Baudouin, the honorary president of the Federation of human rights (FIDH), the lawyer Antoine Count, the sociologist Lucien-Samir Oulahbib, and others. But on September 24, Nadia Matoub sees herself meaning the cancellation of the meeting orally. Reason: impossible to organize this type of event during election time. Let us recall that the local elections will take place in six months.

Joined by Liberation, the assistant in charge of the international relations, Pierre Schapira, explain to have pled for the cancellation of the meeting, having been prevented very late: “It is a significant subject, one needs time for reasons of safety.” And to release: “But is the town hall of Paris really the good place?”

For Patrick Baudouin, these arguments would be only “subterfuges”: “The last spring, we had held a meeting about the assassination of an Algerian lawyer at the same place.” He evokes “pressures from Algeria” after the local press heard about the Parisian meeting.

By THOMAS HOFNUNG
www.liberation.fr

Translated by Jugurten for Kabylia Observer