Algerian general Djamel Laroussi dies in Blida military prison
Yesterday, Sunday 10 September, the body of the former head of the 2nd military region was laid to rest in total secrecy in a cemetery in M'sila, his home town (5234 km south of Algiers). He died the day before in the Blida military prison, where he had been imprisoned since December 2022, a few days after his arrest by members of the army's Central Security Directorate (DCSA). Three months later, on 23 March, he and a score of senior officers were brought before a military court on charges of "disclosing military documents and conspiring against the army". They were sentenced to harsh prison terms ranging from 5 to 20 years.
Ten days before his death, General Laroussi was joined in prison by a dozen businessmen and four other officers implicated in the case for which he was tried and convicted on 23 March. General Saïd Chengriha, the army chief of staff, was determined to eradicate the nucleus that had formed within the Algerian military to counter his plans.
Tebboune behind the neutralisation of General Laroussi
Although the former head of the 2nd military region was thought to have been arrested for making critical remarks about military justice during a casual discussion in a room at the region's command headquarters, a source close to the case recently revealed that the matter was of much greater proportions.
The accusation of "disclosure of military documents and conspiracy against the army" is explained by the attempt by General Laroussi and some officers around him to get close to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in order to remove the powerful army chief of staff.
According to our source, General Laroussi, with the help of several senior officers, had collected compromising documents against army general Saïd Chengriha and handed them over to Boualem Boualem, President Tebboune's trusted adviser. These officers assured the occupant of El-Mouradia of their support in freeing him from the clutches of Chengriha, who had become too cumbersome and hated by almost the entire military command.
Suspicious of this unexpected outburst by a group of senior officers whom he believed to be loyal to the Chief of Staff, and fearing that Tebboune, with whom he has had a very bad relationship since his investiture as head of the Algerian army, was up to no good, Tebboune played the "loyalty" card and let the cat out of the bag. The rest is history. A real purge was carried out in the ranks of the army, and the investigation continues even after the death of the main accused.
Death and question marks
Although sentenced by the military court to 20 years in prison, despite the prosecutor's request for life imprisonment, General Laroussi continued to move back and forth between Blida prison and the Antar barracks, a torture centre run by General Abdelkader Haddad, alias Nacer El-Djen (the devil). The ill-treatment suffered in this centre since the first day of his arrest, in December 2022, has taken its toll on the prisoner's morale. "He is said to have died of grief," according to a source close to the Antar barracks. However, another source close to Blida prison is certain that the former head of the 2nd military region was poisoned. "And it was General Abdelkader Haddad himself who came from Algiers to put the poison in the late general's food with his own hands". Another source confirms the poisoning theory. This time, however, the wife of the deceased was accused of complicity for having brought the food from home for the fortnightly visit.
A veritable psychosis has broken out in the Blida military prison as rumours spread that General Laroussi had been poisoned. Nearly 150 generals and several dozen senior officers (including commanders and colonels) languish in an overcrowded prison that could hardly hope to house inmates of the same rank as its current inmates.