General Khaled Nezzar in his hometown during his last days
Khaled Nezzar, 85, a former Minister of National Defense and a member of the High State Committee that secured the last months of President Chadli's term, resigned for a quarter of the generals in January 1992, is suffering. He is said to be in agony. "There is nothing more I can do. It makes no sense to evacuate him abroad. In addition, he is forbidden to leave the national territory like many former high Algerian officials," confesses one of his relatives.
Feeling that his end is near, Khaled Nezzar could not resist the invitation sent to him by two emissaries of General Chengriha, the strong man of the moment, to leave Algiers and go to Seriana, his hometown, to finish what he has left to live. The death of the most disgraced man in Algeria would embarrass the current power. It would be impossible for him to arrange a funeral worthy of his rank (former member of the High State Council from 1992 to 1994, former Minister of National Defense from 1990 to 1993, former chief of the army General staff from 1988 to 1990).
The current government, which aims to differentiate itself from its predecessors by presenting itself as the builder of the "new Algeria", would not like to attract more hostility from the people by organizing an official funeral for the one who leaves behind a judicial procedure opened at the Berne court in Switzerland, where he has been prosecuted for "crimes against humanity and war crimes" since October 2011.
The funeral of General Nezzar risks turning into a popular riot, since the man, even dead, would continue to arouse a feeling of hatred and revenge among his thousands of victims of the bloody years of the civil war.
Nezzar could only comply with the request of the strongman of Algiers. His son Lotfi, who fears a lot for his future after his father's departure, has been very conciliatory in helping Said Chengriha's emissaries convince him to leave and die far from Algiers. Hit, too, with the prohibition to leave the national territory and prosecuted for numerous cases of financial embezzlement, it is likely that Lotfi Nezzar will join the herd of businessmen languishing behind bars in the various prisons of Algeria for corruption, capital flight, illicit enrichment, etc.
On the side of Nezzar, usually the relay of the family media "Patriotic Algeria", a news site employing people unknown in the world of the press, reacts in a quarter turn to any information related to the general. This time it's motus and sewn mouth. It's hard for us to accept this situation of being treated like a bad guy. A sad fate that Nezzar hardly expected but that millions of Algerians wished for him.
